E-Paper
The vicious circle: No power, no water
WITH POWER supply to the city in disarray, water supply in the entire city has also been adversely affected.
WITH POWER supply to the city in disarray, water supply in the entire city has also been adversely affected.
As power supply to the city has been restricted to 6 to 8 hours on an average, people are also forced to confront water crisis. All the 29 zonal pumping stations of Jal Sansthan are also being subjected to rostering, water supply of most of the city has been badly affected. The extent of water scarcity in the city can be gauged from the fact that against the demand of 530 mld per day, Jal Sansthan is barely able to supply 380 mld per day. The problem has been further compounded by the receding water level of the Ganga.
The Bhaironghat pumping station is not getting the required amount of water from the Ganga. After purifying the water, Bhaironghat pumping station supplies it to 26 zonal pumping stations. At times even the Bhaironghat pumping station is subjected to power rostering.
Water to southern areas of the city is being supplied through Dabouli pumping station. It has the capacity of supplying 28 mld water to southern areas of the city which by all standards is far below the requirement of the southern parts of the city. In the absence of any source of water, major parts of the south city are dependent on jet pumps for water supply. While public handpumps come handy for slum colonies and those who cannot afford jet pumps. But a large number of these handpumps are lying defunct which has aggravated the woes of masses. Despite several complaints these handpumps had not been repaired leading to water crisis in southern areas of the city.
A resident of Saket Nagar, a former bank manager Anil Srivastav said, “ Power crisis has brought in its wake acute water crisis in the area.”
“There is no water supply from Jal Sansthan in the area and we are dependent on jet pumps for water supply. However, due to power crisis jet pumps have been rendered useless.”
Talking to Hindustan Times, general manager of Jal Sansthan UC Tewari said,” All efforts are being made to ensure normal water supply to the city. A complaint cell has also been opened and all complaints received are redressed.” However, Tewari expressed his helplessness when it comes to rostering at zonal pumping stations.