The drinking water situation in Chennai is comfortable and the city will not face any water shortage even during peak summer, Secretary to Public Works Department S. Audiseshiah said here on Saturday.
Nine more towns in Rajasthan have been selected for creating sewerage infrastructure under the Urban Infrastructure Development of Small and Medium Towns (UIDSMT) programme of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). A grand total of Rs.389 crore has been sanctioned for the projects which are likely to get going from this coming July in a fast track mode.
A board meeting of the World Bank held yesterday approved a grant assistance of US$ 127 million (Rs 8.26 billion) to Nepal to support the ongoing peace process, expand primary health services in rural areas and improve rural water supply and sanitation.
Four Chinese companies have bid for construction of the 26.5 kilometer diversion tunnel of the Melamchi Water Supply Project. The companies vying for the project are China International Water and Electric Corp (CWE), China Overseas Engineering Company, Trans Tech Engineering China and China Railway 15 Bureau, said senior officials at the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board. "We expect that the bidding process will be completed by mid-July," said Purna Kadariya, Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works at a press meet held here Wednesday.
The Union Government is initiating steps to minimise Arunachal Pradesh's present 50 per cent share to 10 per cent in the centrally sponsored drinking water supply schemes.
A growing international water crisis is forcing governments to rethink how they value and use and manage water, especially because economic development hinges on water availability. Freshwater resources Drinking water supplies, agriculture, energy production and generation, mining and industry all require large quantities of water. In the future, these sectors will be competing for increasingly limited freshwater resources, making water supply availability a major economic driver in the 21st century.
Provincial minister without portfolio, Syed Ali Mardan Shah, has blamed vested interests and corrupt officials of Irrigation Department for
Delhi chief min ister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said that the city requires more water due to the large number of influx of migrants from different states. She said that it is the right of the city to get its due share of water as decided by the Central government from the neighbouring states. The chief minister was replying to the allegation of the Union water resources minister Saifuddin Soz that the city has been wasting water during a function to launch the estamping for the registration of properties.
Though successive Governments at the Centre and in the State have adopted several ambitious schemes like Sajaldhara to supply safe drinking water to people, due to the alleged indifference and lack of proper follow-up action of the Government, there has been no desired results. The Government observed 2003 as the year of safe drinking water. But it is a matter of great regret that even after five years, the objectives of the scheme have been relegated to the background as is evident from the dismal water supply schemes in several parts of Barpeta district.
Residents of Palaskata, Makdem, Kajumal, Nandran, Kasavalim, Satpal and Gawaliwada have complained of acute water shortage since March, after the Water Supply department disconnected public taps in many parts of Mollem. "At present, there is about 10 to 12 thousand litres of water shortage per day in the area,' Mollem panch Mr Shahu told Herald. Most of the residents are without water connections and are dependent on public taps. The water supply department has arranged to supply water through tankers, said sources.
The Indian high commissioner, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, said on Tuesday lack of management was mainly responsible for the water crisis in Bangladesh. His remark came when a participant in a discussion on the relationship between Bangladesh and India drew his attention to the Farakka Barrage issue.
Nearly $13bn will be invested over the next ten years in securing water supplies in the face of climate change, the Australian government has announced. The investment includes $1.5bn in new urban water investment to help secure water supplies for homes and businesses in the face of climate change. Announcing the government's plans, Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong said most Australian towns and cities can no longer rely on rainfall to supply drinking water.
Water and Sanitation Authority (Wasa) has been directed to conduct laboratory tests of water before releasing it into pipelines. District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil gave the directive while discussing measures to control gastroenteritis with health officials and elected representatives. He said old water pipelines should be replaced and daily reports be submitted to him directly on measures taken by concerned departments. He said magistrates will be deputed to ensure no rotten fruit or vegetable or substandard drinks were sold in the market.
Farmers staged protest demonstrations, manhandled irrigation department staff and blocked main roads in four towns of the district on Tuesday in protest against water shortage. Hundreds of farmers, whose land is irrigated through Dilary distributary, staged a protest outside the office of irrigation department in Kot Ghulam Mohammad. The protesters were carrying banners and placards and were demanding water in the canal.
The entire State of Manipur has been facing acute shortage of water due to the failure of the main water supply project at Singda in Imphal. Official sources said if the state did not receive any rainfall within the next few days, the dam would be without a single drop of water. Meanwhile, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister T N Haokip visited the Singda dam site and met village chiefs to discuss about the maintenance of the dam. People of Imphal city, who depend entirely on water supply by the PHED, were most affected by the water shortage.
Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal warned today that water scarcity and other environment-related problems were bound to get aggravated unless effective steps were taken to reverse the process of global warming and asserted that the Centre must compensate the hill states that were playing a vital role in reducing greenhouse gases by maintaining forest cover.
Domestic water supply in the city has been increased by three million litres daily (mld) for a week now to meet the rising demand in the summer months. According to a Chennai Metrowater official, the water supplied to domestic consumers through pipeline and tankers has been increased to 586 mld to match the rising demand. The total volume of water supplied to the city, including industrial and bulk purposes, has been increased from 645 mld to 650 mld.
With the mercury ever on the rise, Samdrup Jongkhar is a place where life cannot be imagined without water. But this was exactly what residents of the busy town had been enduring for the past few days - living without water. In scorching heat, people carrying jerry cans in their cars and driving kilometres to fetch water has become a common sight these days. "It's a hot place and we need to take a bath every now and then, but there is no water,' said Kunzang, a private employee. "Forget about baths, we don't have water to drink and cook food.'
Indiscriminate digging up of road sides in Himachal Pradesh are known to have posed dangers to many lives while driving on roads, but this time it has become responsible for aggravating Shimla's water problems. The telecom department, while laying its telephone cables, has damaged nearly 15 kilometres of main supply line of the drinking scheme, which was planned to solve the water crisis in the town.
Electricity loadshedding and deficient water supply made it difficult for the people in the city to spend the weekly holiday in hot weather. Staying indoors in the absence of power or going out in the blazing sun was like living in hell. The wind was too hot to be braved, making the city streets deserted for almost the entire day. However, locals visited parks and open places in the evening to have a relief. Youngsters found some respite by flocking to the city canal without caring how much its water was polluted.
