Sambalpur, May 24: Thousands of visitors who gathered here to take part in the Sital Sasthi festival faced problems in getting water to drink in the scorching heat.
The pipe water supply by the public health engineering department (PHED) was erratic and inadequate in several areas of the city during the festival.
Local residents had to face a tough time because of the water scarcity, especially with the mercury hovering above the 40°C mark.
"Sital Sasthi is one of the most important festivals in the city. Thousands of visitors come here to witness the festival. However, the shortage of drinking water is creating serious problems for the local residents," said Siba Prashad, a local resident.
"We have been facing the water crisis over the past few days. I was expecting the PHED to provide uninterrupted drinking water supply during the festival. But the water supply was inadequate even during the festival," said another local resident, Ranjit Sahu.
People staying at Budharaja, Ainthapali, Bhatra, Sakhipara, Talbhatapara, Gopalmal, Golebazar and several other areas faced the same problem.
Two treatment plants located at Bareipali and Modipara meet the city's drinking water requirement. While the Bareipali plant has a capacity to treat 42 million litres per day (MLD), the Modipara one has a capacity of 11 MLD. However, the Modipara plant has become old now and its capacity has decreased. Consequently, most of the areas are getting water from the Bareipali plant.
PHED assistant engineer Loknath Pandey said several areas here faced water crisis and the situation occurred because of power shortage.
"After the water gets treated at the Bareipali plant, it's pumped into a 5 million-litre tank atop the Budharaja reserve forest. Then, it is supplied to the houses. However, because of the frequent power cuts and low voltage, we cannot run the motors, which pump the water from the Bareipali treatment plant to the Budharaja forest tank," Pandey said.
"Since the tank could not be filled, the water did not reach several places owing to the lack of water pressure. However, we are supplying adequate water now. We will continue doing so till this afternoon so that drinking water reaches the entire city," he said.
