“Every day we are crying for water. It is tough to manage like this,” rued a local woman, who had no option but to gather snow in buckets to get some water for her house here.
There has been no water supply in her locality for a week after January 6 snowfall and every time she calls up the water supply wing, the answer is, “What can we do? We are trying. See the pipes, they have frozen.”
She is not alone in this cry. Many other residents have been forced to melt roadside snow for water this time, with the power and water supply in Shimla totally crumbling in the wake of heavy snowfall.
The issue, however, is bigger than this and winter is not the only season when Shimla residents feel the water crunch. Water crisis has almost become a persistent feature in the state capital. It may actually sound surprising that while Shimla locals have been getting water supply of few hours either on alternate days, or after three or even four days in summers, Monsoons and then winters.
The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), which distributes the water, has different reasons ready to justify the situation. In summers, the peak tourist season, the water sources dry up. In Monsoons, the silt chokes the water supply schemes and in winters, when the temperature dips, the phenomenon of frozen water pipes turns out to be a big trouble.
All this has been happening year after year, but there is no preparedness to tackle the situation.
“It is frustrating. They have not found solution to the oft repeated problems in water supply for lack of vision and the will to improve the things,” said JS Verma, an elderly resident.
While the state government has not taken concrete steps to augment water supply in Shimla over the decades, last year in January, the crisis deepened, when the worst ever jaundice outbreak that claimed over 20 lives threw light on the quality of water as well.
The outbreak occurred after the sewage flowing down from a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) on the outskirts of Shimla reportedly got mixed with water supply scheme at Ashwani Khad water source.
On January 1, 2016, the government had to stop the water supply from Ashwani khad, which used to cater to one third of Shimla’s water requirement. The supply from Ashwani khad could not be restored over the year for quality issues and Shimla is still doing with lesser quantity of water, sometimes half the requirement, against the total need of 40-45 MLD (Million Litres Per Day) water.
“Much water crisis occurred this time because of the power failure in the wake of snowfall. The Electricity Board was even short of man power to clear the fallen trees and repair electricity lines in Shimla,” Deputy Mayor of Shimla MC, Tekinder Singh Panwar told The Statesman.
Panwar said the city was getting half the water required (20-22 MLD) these days from three sources of Gumma, Giri and Churut. “We are monitoring the situation day to day for proper distribution of water.”