Water shortage to stay for a while

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 16

Many city areas are facing shortage of water due to Sirhind canal closure. Water in the canal was expected to be released on April 15, but it’s not done.

The water stored by the Irrigation Department in three storage tanks and 11 water tanks in the city is almost exhausted.

The Water Supply Department has only 10 to 15 per cent stored water, which has been kept for emergency use only.

Residents are affected due as they are left with no option but to rely on groundwater, which is claimed to be unfit for human consumption.

A large number of people are getting water from the RO plants installed in various areas of the city.

In many areas, water is supplied through water tankers by the civic body. Even the day-to-day work of residents has been affected.

As much as 85 lakh gallons of water was being supplied every day in the city, which has been considerably reduced.

A water supply official said the water problem would be over once water is released in the Sirhind canal in coming days.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said it was expected that water in the Sirhind canal would be released by Wednesday.

He appealed to the residents to use water judiciously.

He said, “We have stored water only for emergency due to which we have stopped the supply. People will have to face problems for three more days after which the supply will resume.”

Parveen Kumar, a city resident, said “We have not received water supply for the past two days due to which there are a lot of problems being faced by residents.”

He said the process of suspending the water flow in the canal was a exercise for which officials of the department must prepare themselves much ahead.