A woman collects water from a roadside pipe in Sambalpur

Sambalpur, April 23: The summer is at its worst, and irregular and inadequate supply of drinking water has only aggravated the agony of residents in many areas of the city. Though tankers are ferrying potable water to a few places, it is less than adequate.

Several parts of the city including Bhatra, Bhimabhoi Nagar, Kanijuri, Talbhatapara, Sakhipara, Kuluthkai, Bareipali, Cheruapara, Sarlakani and Durgapali are reeling from acute shortage of drinking water.

On Tuesday, residents of Kanijuri had staged a demonstration in front of the office of the public health and engineering department at Modipara demanding regularity in water supply.

Similarly, residents of Bhimabhoi Nagar had also complained that they were not being supplied water.

“We have been facing irregularity in water supply in our area for over 15 days now. This is a common problem, we experience it every year,” said Alok, a resident of Kanijuri area.

Santisnigdha Mohanty, a resident of the city’s Bhimabhoi Nagar, said: “Though our houses have pipeline connection, we do not get water. The water tanker comes here in the morning, but it stays only for a while. We have taken up the issue with the authorities concerned, but nothing has been done so far.”

“Despite the greater Sambalpur water supply project, many parts of the city continue to run almost dry. The project was initiated to meet the city’s demand for water, but it has failed to achieve its objective,” said local resident Smruti Ranjan Lenka.

An official of the public health and engineering department said: “There is no water scarcity in the city that at the moment needs 28MLD of water everyday. The capacity of the existing water treatment plant at Bareipali is 42MLD. However, as the city has expanded, the distribution of water has become a problem.”

When contacted, executive engineer of the public health and engineering department Hadibandhu Behera said: “Eight tankers have been engaged to supply water to areas that are facing water scarcity. The department has five tankers and we have hired three more.”

Behera, however, admitted that people living on the fringes had issues related to water supply.

“Several areas located on the city outskirts do not get adequate drinking water due to lack of pressure. However, the department has a proposal to set up a 15MLD treatment plant on the city’s PHED ground to ensure proper distribution of water. The Centre has already approved the proposal. The distribution problem will be resolved once the project is implemented,” he said.