Kendrapara, April 21: The town is reeling from drinking water crisis as huge volume of water is gushing out of pipelines that have cracked in various places. Domestic water taps are bearing the brunt of the wastage that is going on unabated with the authorities allegedly preferring to look otherwise.

To add to this, technical snags in motor pumps and erratic power supply have further worsened the crisis.

Areas that are the worst hit by the water shortage are Nasadipur, Baranga, Saranga and Jayipura. "Multiple problems are plaguing the drinking water supply system. Drinking water is being drawn from the Luna river near Kalapada village. Then water is purified in the treatment plant at Ichhapur in Kendrapara. Unscheduled power cuts are creating further problems as we cannot undertake repair work," said superintendent engineer of public health engineering department Basanta Kumar Senapati.

The department had deposited Rs 35 lakh with the Central Electricity Supply utility (Cesu) for a separate power line to the water treatment plant more than a decade ago. However, an official of the public health engineering department said that there was no response from the Cesu on the matter.

The town requires at least 8 lakh gallons of drinking water every day. Unauthorised domestic water consumption is another headache for the department. There are some 2,603 authorised connections in the urban areas of Kendrapra, while more than a thousand domestic households draw water by unauthorised connections every day.

"Water has become scarce. We hardly get water for an hour in the day. The taps remain dry for most of the day," said Rukmini Rout, a homemaker who lives in Nasadipur.