Bhubaneswar, May 22: The heat wave sweeping the state has brought in a business boom for private suppliers of drinking water. The cash register simply won’t stop ringing for both entrepreneurs supplying water through tankers and those digging borewells on private plots.

Those supplying drinking water through the tankers are making profits that are nearly 10 fold. The tankers are filled at government facilities for a mere Rs 51, but the water is sold for Rs 500 to the residents.

Most of the water comes from the high-level tank near the state secretariat in Unit-V area and Vani Vihar.

Saroj Das, a tanker owner, said: “I charge Rs 450 to Rs 600 for one tanker depending upon the distance from the high-level tank. If someone wants to keep the tanker for an entire day, we charge around Rs 2,200.”

Not only Das, nearly 30 tanker owners are making a fast buck by supplying water. The government rate varies from Rs 240 to Rs 560 depending on the distance. The tank in Vani Vihar supplies nearly 1 lakh litre of water through the tankers.

Officer in charge of the high-level tank I.C. Pradhan said: “Besides providing regular water supply through pipes, we supply nearly three lakh litres of water through tankers. However, because of shortage of water in the summer, we have stopped supplying water through the tankers to private individuals.”

The public health engineering department, which manages the high-level water tank in the capital, supplies nearly 60,000 to 70,000 litres of water to slums and nearby areas facing water scarcity through its own tankers.

“There is huge pressure on us to supply water. In a welfare state despite all constraints, we have to supply drinking water to slums. We are managing this by stopping supply to private individuals,” said Pradhan.

With the government stopping supply of water for private purposes because of water shortage, private entrepreneurs are reaping the benefits. In spite of having regular water connections, residents in many posh localities such as Baramunda and Chandrashekharpur face a water shortage during the summer.

Besides taking water from the high-level tank, some tank owners have also dug their own borewells to supply water to the people.

Pradhan said: “Only 10 to 15 tankers are taking water from them. The rest are drawing water from their own sources and supplying it to consumers. We have no statistics on them.”

With the short supply of water and gradually falling water level, residents are digging their own borewells. In the past four years, the groundwater level has shrunk by one metre in major areas of the city, according to a survey by the Directorate of Ground Water Survey and Investigation.

In many parts on the outskirts, groundwater depletion has been 10 metres and more. A large number of wells in Bhubaneswar and Jatni blocks go dry in the summers because of this alarming shrinkage of subterranean water.

Ajay Barik, who is engaged in sinking borewells, said he charged nearly Rs 120 per feet for digging and installing a borewell. He added that installing a borewell in the city costs around Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 depending on the nature of the soil. In Bhubaneswar, water can be found 220 feet to 260 feet below the soil depending on the topography.

Similarly, water pouches are selling very well. “It is a thing of the past to go and ask for a glass of water. Now, no shopkeeper will give you a glass of water. The will insist that you buy a water pouch for Re 1 instead,” Nirmal Swain, a local resident.

“There are no official figures available about how many water pouches are being sold in the market. But I would guess around one lakh water pouches are being sold in Bhubaneswar every day,” said an Omfed kiosk owner.