Water woes in Dharamsala: Leaks, apathy & dry truth behind a smart city dream

Residents of Ward No. 14 are fast losing hope, as their repeated pleas to the Jal Shakti Department regarding a leaking joint on the main bypass road at Dari continue to be ignored. Despite persistent efforts, the necessary repairs have not been carried out. This isn’t an isolated case — across nearly every ward in the town, precious water is being wasted due to unattended leaks.

“A large portion of our water supply — whether pumped from motorised tube wells or drawn from the traditional gallery near a natural source — is simply not being utilised efficiently. Nearly a third of it goes down the drain and there seems to be no determined effort by the department to find a lasting solution,” says Ramesh, a resident of Ward No. 10, Shamnagar, under the Dharamsala MC.

Ramesh isn’t alone. Many others feel that if the department treated this issue with the urgency it deserves, it could significantly alleviate the town’s growing water scarcity problem. Pankaj Chaudhary, Sub-Divisional Officer of JSD in Dharamsala, claimed the department addresses leakages when notified, but admitted he had no explanation for the acute water shortage that has plagued Ek Jot Colony in Ramnagar over the past three days.

Despite the hundreds of crores spent on transforming Dharamsala into a ‘Smart City’ — including the ambitious, multi-crore Jal Jeevan Mission — the situation on the ground has barely improved. The water distribution network remains riddled with leaks.

“It’s baffling that no sustainable effort has been made to harvest rainwater to replenish natural sources,” noted a retired Army officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Dharamsala receives decent rainfall, but due to steep gradients and poor planning, it simply runs off. It’s disheartening to see so much of the treated water lost through leaks in the distribution system.”

The persistent water leakages from pipes, joints and storage tanks across Dharamsala’s wards are a stark reminder for the Jal Shakti Department to urgently revisit its infrastructure priorities. While vast sums have been spent on signboards urging citizens to conserve water, the department appears to have exempted itself from that very responsibility.