North India

HIMACHAL PRADESH Water scarcity leaves Shimla high and dry Residents in the city are reeling under acute water shortage for the last few days. They are getting rationed water supply after four-five days.“Hoteliers are paying private tankers Rs 2,600 for 6,000 litre water,” said Harnan Kukreja, president, Shimla Hoteliers’ Association. The Shimla Municipal Corporation is struggling to ration 21 MLD of water that was pumped from its major sources these days. The water availability per resident was just 5 litre as on May 25.

 The city needs 45 MLD water daily, but the water availability has come down from 29 MLD last week to 21 MLD on May 25, 2018. Guma, which has 20 MLD capacity, and Giri, which has 20 MLD capacity, could supply just 4 MLD and 14 MLD, respectively, revealed MC supply chart. Churat supplied 1.25 MLD, Chair (0.32 MLD) and Koti- Brandi (0.35 MLD).

Around 4-5 MLD water is getting wasted due to leakages in supply lines before it reaches MC storage tanks in the city. The state government and the MC have failed to compensate for the water that it used to get from the Ashwani khud, supply from where was suspended in 2015 following a jaundice outbreak in the city. http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/water-scarcity-leaves-shimla-high-and-dry/594998.html (The Tribune, 26 May 2018) Continue reading “India’s Summer of Water Crisis in 2018” →