Gurgaon: Water shortage to continue for another week, says Huda

City residents have been facing acute water shortage for the last one week due to the shifting of utility lines at Rajiv Chowk, Signature Tower and other areas of the city and the ongoing de-silting process at the Basai water treatment plant.

City residents have been facing acute water shortage for the last one week due to the shifting of utility lines at Rajiv Chowk, Signature Tower and other areas of the city and the ongoing de-silting process at the Basai water treatment plant.

Workers deputed by the Huda for shifting the main water line at Rajiv Chowk. (Parveen Kumar/HT FILE)

The situation is unlikely to improve soon as official sources said it will take another week to fix the problem.

The city faces the same problem every summer due to a gap in water demand and supply. While the demand increases every year, according to residents the supply is still what it used to be three years ago.

“We have no clarification on why the authorities cannot fix the problem completely. Every year the same issues of cleaning the plant and leakage in pipelines cause inconvenience,” said Harsh Jaidka of Sector 28 on Golf Course Road.

Similarly, Devender Rao of Sector 15, said, “We have been getting water supply for only 30 minutes. It is not enough to fill the tanks. The pressure too is low so water doesn’t reach the overhead tanks.”

The problem is particularly acute in DLF areas, Sushant Lok, sectors 4, 7, 15 to 17, 27 to 32, and 38 to 43.

Aman Puri, of DLF Phase 3, said, “Last year, we ordered water tankers. We were assured by the deputy commissioner and Huda officials that we will not face any issues this year, but we don’t see any change on the ground.”

Most of the sectors are dependent for water supply on the Haryana urban development authority (Huda), which has two water treatment plants — Chandu Budhera and Basai — that are undergoing cleaning, hitting water supply.

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According to official figures, the total water demand is 82 million gallons a day (MGD), but the supply stands at 61 MGD.

Huda officials said they are working on the issue, but it could take a week to fix the problem completely.

“The construction of underpasses at major junctions in the city has forced the department to restructure pipelines. It is one of the reasons for irregular supply of water. Also, this time of the year, water treatment plants go through de-silting, which also creates (water supply) problems for us,” Subhash Piplani, sub-divisional officer, Huda, said.