It may sound strange, but is true. Though Guwahati city is severely hit by artificial flood and waterlogging, the irony is that its residents continue to bear the brunt of acute drinking water shortage. With 70 per cent of the city's households still denied the piped water supply network of the government agencies, including the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), many residents have no other option but to rely on water supplied by private tankers. However, with the water requirement of the citizens going high this summer, the GMC is planning to engage some private water tankers in order to cope with the drinking water scarcity in and around the city. The Corporation has already floated tenders inviting reputed organisations for the contract to supply drinking water through tankers. A GMC official said the private tankers to be engaged would supply water till the mega drinking water supply project envisaged under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) becomes operational. "Since the city is reeling under drinking water scarcity most of the time, we have decided to engage private firms to tide over the crisis,' the official said, adding that the other water supply projects would take some time to get completed. The official said the firm to be engaged would supply drinking water to city residents, which has remained out of the piped water network of the Corporation and other agencies. The Corporation would charge nominal water tax from the residents, the official pointed out. "But the rate is yet to be finalised. We will soon finalise the rates after a discussion and let the people know about it,' he informed. The city, at present, has several private drinking water suppliers who are charging money directly from the consumers. Dispur has already chalked out a Rs 1,000 crore drinking water and sewerage project under JNNURM. Apart from GMC, Public Health Engineering and Assam Urban Water and Sewerage Board are the other agencies supplying drinking water in the city at present.