Patna, March 5: Bhagalpur, around 230km east of Patna, will face a severe shortage of drinking water unless a channel is constructed to direct the flow of the Ganga towards the city.

Apart from the main stream of the river shifting around 2km away from Bhagalpur due to heavy siltation, the Ganga has also registered a sharp decline in water level. This has prompted the government and other agencies concerned to launch recovery efforts.

Bhagalpur's 4.2 lakh population depends on the Ganga and groundwater for potable water, but the groundwater is hard to access with its rapidly decreasing level, and people also avoid it due to poor taste and arsenic contamination.

Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation's (BUIDCo) managing director Amarendra Prasad Singh told The Telegraph: "I will only ensure one thing - that we will not let Bhagalpur face any scarcity in potable water. Work is happening on war-footing.

"Written instructions to ensure that a fresh channel brings back water from the Ganga stream has already been given to the officials concerned," he added. "The early onset of the dry season and drop in water levels is one of the reasons behind the problem."

Ganga water is supplied throughout Bhagalpur after purification at Barari waterworks, which comes under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation but is currently maintained and monitored by BUIDCo in partnership with Pan India Infraprojects Private Limited. Pan India Infraprojects also executes the Asian Development Bank-funded Rs 493 crore water supply project in the city.

Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation officials said problems were first observed around two weeks ago when the water level in the Ganga stream began receding at a pace of around 2cm per day.

"This fall in the water level impacted the incoming Ganga water to Barari waterworks, which has a capacity to supply 171 lakh litres of purified water per day. It is distributed to 80,000 houses as piped water. Efforts are now being made to bring more river water to the stream," a municipal corporation official said.

Government officials, too, are alarmed over the situation after the India meteorological department's predictions of a warmer than normal summer, which could further impact the water level.