Shimla set to face water crunch

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 28

Even as the region has been under a persistent spell of rain over the last few days, Shimla is set to face water crunch in the next few days.

“The turbidity in the water bodies from where we draw water has spiked a lot. The filtration rate has gone down, so the water supply will be affected,” said Harmesh Bhatia, assistant general manager (AGM), Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL).

Bhatia expects a significant drop in the availability of water for distribution in the city. “We are expecting a shortfall of 10-15 million litres per day (MLD). At the moment, we are drawing around 45 MLD. We should be able to get around 30-32 MLD,” said Bhatia.

That’s not sufficient for the city, even without the floating population. “We will resort to the rescheduling of the timings to tide over the shortage. We will try and supply water to all households every day. In case some areas are left out, they will be covered on priority the next day,” Bhatia said.

The monsoon season has affected the Giri and Gumma water schemes the most, with the turbidity rate in both the water sources being recorded over 4,000 this evening. The turbidity rate, earlier in the day, was much higher and the pumping was stopped altogether at Gumma.