Mahakalpara: With the wells, ponds, rivulets, canals and pits in the region having dried up this summer and the water of Mahanadi, Sakhanadi, Luna, Gobari and other distributaries turning saline, many parts of this block in Kendrapara district are experiencing acute drinking water shortage.
The rural water supply and sanitation department claims they are supplying water to villages of Barkandha, Mangalpur, Godaromita, Khurusia and Mahakalpara panchayats. The villagers say the water supplied thus hardly helped them meet their demand. “Some villages are getting tanker-supplied water once every four/five days,” they said.
A case in point is Chhedakani village under Barkandha panchayat. Here a tanker comes once in four/five days. “The drinking water problem is acute in our village. What we get is very little water by tanker supply,” said village women like Amari Swain, Kalpana Swain, Mitu Swain and Minati Parida.
The village comprises of over one hundred families. “Worse, the tube well in our village gives yellowish and salty water,” the villagers said.
Similarly, Mangalpur, Dadhipur, Kumarpara, Bandhapara and some other villages of Barkandha panchayat are experiencing acute drinking water problem.
Rural water supply and sanitation department’s Mahakalpara-based assistant engineer Prashant Kumar Nayak said there was no compliant about drinking water this season. “The areas experiencing water scarcity are being supplied with tankers,” he said, adding a mega drinking water scheme is coming up in the area as a permanent solution.