Oct. 3: Residents of the city can expect improvement in the supply of potable water with the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the Assam Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board authorities undertaking measures to strengthen their existing water supply projects.
While the GMC has taken steps to replace the old water pumps, the board has procured a voltage-stabiliser to enhance the efficiency of its pumps.
Guwahati has four water supply projects, but they have failed to meet even half of the city’s requirement for safe drinking water. These projects are Panbazar water supply (which started in 1960), Satpukhuri water supply (1985), the Kamakhya water supply (2000) and the Zoo Road water supply (1988).
In addition to these large water supply projects, there are eight deep tubewells and 560 handpumps for supplying water to various localities.
While water supply has become highly irregular in the old areas, residents of most of the localities have not been covered under the piped water schemes of the GMC and have to depend on ground water sources.
Against a total requirement of 108 million litres of water per day, the city faces a shortfall of about 40 million litres.
Residents of Gandhibasti, Rehabari, Lachit Nagar, Paltan bazar, Chatribari, Bharalumukh and Kumarpara alleged that water supplied through GMC pipe network was contaminated. An official of the GMC waterworks attributed this to leakages in pipes which he said had outlived their lives.
“These pipes laid four decades back need immediate replacement. But the GMC does not have the required funds to replace the entire network. However, whenever leakages in water pipes are brought to our notice, we try to fix them,” he added.
GMC authorities said the situation was expected to improve by the end of this year with the arrival of new pumps in October and the completion of the Kamakhya water supply scheme in December.
Users of Zoo Road water supply scheme, which is under the Assam Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board, complained that the board had failed to keep its promise of supplying water 12 hours a day. There are nearly 4,000 consumers under this scheme. Some of the consumers alleged that because of faulty equipment, the pressure of water supplied under the scheme varied in different localities.
Board officials, however, attributed the problem to erratic power supply by the Assam State Electricity Board to Satpukhuri water treatment plant.
An official of the board said that against the requirement of 415 kV, the plant got 360 kV electricity and this drop in voltage had adversely affected the pump’s efficiency. The board has now procured a voltage-stabiliser to deal with the situation and the official hoped that the supply would improve soon.
