Water supply in Shimla takes a hit

Shimla, January 10

A day after the first major snowfall of the winters, water supply in Shimla took a hit due to significant drop in the pumping of water from the Giri Scheme. The water supply from this scheme dropped to 9.26 million litre, which brought down the overall supply to 37.51 million litres.

“We could not pump the required amount of water from Giri due to increased silt and turbidity. Also, the electricity department had some issues with one of their feeders so that also affected the pumping,” said Anil Jaswal, AGM, Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited. “However, the problems have been resolved and we are hopeful of resuming normal supply from tomorrow. We don’t see any further interruption by the snowfall,” said Jaswal.

Normally, the silt and turbidity problem doesn’t occur in winters. However, the problem is persisting with the Giri scheme because of the development work in the catchment area and the dumping of muck in the river. In view of this problem, the SJPNL is installing an additional tube settler at the Giri Scheme.

“The civil work for installing the tube settler is almost complete and we will have it operational by February end. Once installed, our operation efficiency will increase,” he said. The AGM also said that the issue of voltage, which was preventing the company from pumping water at peak hours, was also getting better.

Jaswal said that they were looking to pump 45 million litre per day for the city. “Once we reach that mark, we can provide adequate supply to the city,” he said. — TNS