When Shimla queued up for water

When Shimla queued up for water

News:

1. Shimla was recently in news for acute water shortage due to drying up of  Nauti-Khad stream.

Important facts:

2. Potable water for Shimla town is mainly supplied from the sources at Gumma, Giri, Churat, Chair and Ashwani Khad.
3. Of these, Gumma and Giri are the most reliable sources, contributing an estimated 73% of the total water supply.
4. Gumma consider to be Shimla’s oldest water supply scheme. The supply system was commissioned in 1921-22 by the British.
5. The ‘settling tank’ which was constructed in 1981-82 was closed due to the high level of turbidity caused by silt.
6. This year the water discharge in the stream is low as 9.39 million litres per day (MLD) where the average is between 18-20 MLD.
7. Possible reasons for worsening situations:

• The debris deposits has resulted in blocking the water streams.
• The high tourist footfall during summer has led in reducing the water availability
• Poor maintenance of pipelines. there is Consistent leakage of Pipeline
• Rising population
• Most farmers are cultivating vegetables which has increased the water consumption and also led to changing the soil profile
• The crisis is a result of a failure of government agencies in exploring new sources of water to meet demand in the town.

7. Consequences of dried up of stream:

• The Stream dried up for the first time in last 40 years.
• In the catchment and natural springs are vanishing.
• There has been change in vegetation pattern.
• Tree cover is shrinking and unscientific dumping of debris and muck in water streams is rampant.
• The drying up of the stream also increased the erratic pattern of rainfall.
• The failure of a sewage treatment plant that was upstream was eventually identified as the source of contamination.
• Most of farmers here have been facing similar hardships and have suffered crop losses
• Shimla has been known as an urban forest but is fast turning into an urban slum

8. Way forward:

• There is need to adopting rainwater harvesting techniques.
• There is need to modernize the system of distribution of water in Shimla town.
• Installing more tube wells in the catchment area.
• Illegal tapping of water are some of the issues that need to be addressed on a war-footing.
• Old pipe lines should be replaced or repaired suitably.
• State governments should take pro-active measure in addressing the unplanned development in the town that has taken place over the years.
• The State government should installing water treatment systems that use ultraviolet radiation technology.