The Hindu 12.07.2009
Municipalities face severe water crisis
Staff Reporter
| Guntur needs 105 MLD but gets 74.54 MLD |
Tenali and Bapatla also facing water shortage
Situation precarious in Macherla, Vinukonda and Piduguralla
GUNTUR: Most of the municipalities, including the Guntur Municipal Corporation, are in the grip of a severe scarcity of drinking water, even as the district is witnessing extended summer season.
The issue found its echo at the District Review Meeting with most of the elected representatives training their guns on the officials and the latter pleading helplessness.
In Guntur, as against the expected requirement of 105 Million Litres per Day (MLD), the city is getting a supply of just 74.54 MLD which is hardly sufficient for a population of 7 lakh. Municipal Commissioner K. Ilambarthi said that works relating to laying of second pipeline from the raw water source to the filtration plant at Takkelapadu would speed up once the land acquisition problems on the National Highway No 5 were complete. This pipeline would augment the water supply by 45 MLD, he said and added the number of tankers would be increased to meet the demands. The situation is no better in Bapatla, where the water levels at the Summer Storage Tank are sufficient for just 22 days. About 57 lakh litres of water which is being lifted from Tummala canal is being used now, but this is hardly sufficient for a population of 68, 000.
In Tenali, against the daily requirement of 35.20 lakh litres, the municipality was supplying about 30 lakh litres, while in Ponnur the situation is far better with the water levels at the SS tank sufficient for 101 days.
The situation in municipalities in Palnadu region, Macherla, Vinukonda, Piduguralla is precarious with the water levels hovering below the average levels.
The commissioners have pleaded their helplessness by stating the water levels would be just sufficient for the coming 15 days.
Hope for rain
Most of the municipalities are pinning their hopes on early rains and the completion of several drinking water pending projects.
