The water crisis has become a bane for the residents of Shimla during the ongoing summer season with the maximum temperature hovering around 30 degrees Celsius in the queen of hills (Shimla).
The water problem is getting worse and water is being supplied to the localities after a gap of three to four days in the capital city. The water supply was 31.54 million liters per day (MLD) on Monday which was 17 MLD less than the requirement.
The water requirement, which is about 42 MLD, increases during the summer season to about 48 MLD as a large number of tourists visit Shimla Out of the 31.54 MLD water supply, 20.49 MLD water was lifted from Gumma, 8.43 MLD from Giri, 1.22 MLD from Churot, 0.45 MLD from Chairth and 0.95 MLD from Koti Brandi Scheme, officials said on Monday.
Shimla was receiving around 40 MLD of water till June 12, which dropped to 33 MLD in the past two days and on Sunday the water supply in the town witnessed a record low of 29 MLD.
This acute shortage of drinking water has created chaos across the town.
"We have to rely on water tankers to meet our daily water requirements," said Preetam, a local resident.
Sanjay, a resident of Totu, said our ward is facing acute water shortage and the people here have to depend on natural spring water resources and hand pumps.
The summer season is going to continue for a while and the people are worried that the situation might turn worse, he added.
The requirements of more than 40 tankers were received on Monday by the Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL), out of which 25 tankers were sent to various areas in the town. Apart from this, the people are also relying on private water tankers which cost around Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000.
Additional General Manager, Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL), P P Sharma, said that the crisis has arisen due to decrease in the water levels of water supply schemes following scanty snowfall during the winter season as well as the extensive heat wave situation persisting nowadays.
"The situation will improve if there is a spell of rain in the coming days but continued dry weather conditions could worsen the situation," he added.
On Tuesday, the SJPNL will be supplying drinking water in Chakkar and Kamna devi of Chaura maidan Zone, Lakkar Bazar, Jakhu, Oakwood and Lehnu Bhawan in Lakkar Bazar Zone, Scandal Point, Mall Road, Sabzi Mandi and Metropole in Central zone.
In Sanjauli zone, the water will be supplied in Charabra, Dhingu Dhar, Upper Cemetery, Engine Ghar, Mashobra, Naldehra, Baldeyan, Sanjauli Bazar, Bhatta Kuffar, Kufri, Sangti, North Oak and Bothwell. In Chotta Shimla zone, water will be supplied to Nigam Vihar and Strawberry hills while in New Shimla area, water will be supplied to Vikasnagar Colony, Vikasnagar, Devnagar and Aangi.
In 2018, Shimla ran out of water for several days. The water availability had dropped to 18 MLD against an average of 37-38 MLD back then. The crisis worsened to the extent that residents and hoteliers turned to social media advising the tourists not to visit Shimla till the problem was resolved.
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