Ambala thirsts for more water

The water situation in Ambala is progressively worsening as the years pass. People are digging deeper and deeper into the groundwater sources even as the authorities assure people that the situation is under control.

Is the Ganga basin a water-deficient area? Ask an average person on the street, and the response is most likely to be vehement no. However, as most cities in the area are finding out, even the perennial Ganga waters are not coping with the insatiable demands of our modern life.

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As with most other cities in the Indo-Gangetic plain, the water situation in Ambala is progressively worsening as the years pass.

Residents of the twin towns of Ambala city and cantonment are being supplied 100 litres per capita of water as against the norm of 180 litres, which comes to nearly half of their need. Officials attribute the shortfall to non functional tubewells and growing population.

Water pressure is generally very low and residents have had to resort to electric motors to fill their overhead tanks. The worst affected are those who are dependant upon public hydrants as the low pressure fails to give them the much-needed water.

In many areas water pipes are rusted and pass through blocked drains, choked with filth and garbage, posing great health hazards.

According to officials, in the civil area of cantonment, 22 tubewells are in working condition while 10 tubewells have been abandoned as they have outlived their capacity.

They said in the city 30 lakh gallons water are being supplied per day out of which 10 lakh gallons are supplied by tubewells while 20 lakh gallons are received under the canal-based water scheme.

Officials of the Public Health Department, who are managing water supply to the towns claimed that the supply would be raised to 130 litres once the new tubewells come up.

They also state that eight new tubewells, four in Ambala cantonment and three in the city are being installed to increase the supply. While the cantonment tubewells are be installed at Inder Puri, Ram Bagh Road, Arya Nagar and Housing Board, in Ambala city they would be dug at Preet Nagar, Baldev Nagar and Housing Board colony. Officials admitted that water supply is based on electricity-generated tubewells and supply is disrupted due to power failure.

Officials hoped that once the canal-based water scheme is completed the per capita availability will increase to 180 litres in the cantonment. This Rs 50 crore-centre aided scheme is underway at Bhiwani, Kaithal and Ambala on which work is in progress. They said work on underground storage tank and filtration plant at Adho Majra is nearing completion.

Officials said due to faulty pipe system it would not be possible to achieve the norms in the city. The government is not releasing the required amount of Rs 7.5 crore needed to upgrade the pipes.

Incidentally, there are two dozen unauthorised suburbs around the towns where no water is supplied. They make do with water from hand pumps, unaware of the extent of the impurities the water contains.

Public health officials inform that revenue collected from water supply in the cantonment is Rs 70 lakh per annum while expenditure including electricity bills is Rs 1.5 crore which does not include staff salary.

Officials from the Ground Water Board, the agency responsible for water exploration, inform that water is very scarce in Dhulkot and Panjokhra areas of the district while at Sahabad Tangri belt it is 40 to 50 feet deep. They recommend deep tubewells as shallow water is infected with bacteria.

Dev Sarup Mathur