Paradip: : Residents of this port town have been facing the worst ever water crisis situation as all the available water sources have dried up, making them struggle for every drop of water since Monday, a report said.
The situation would slip out of hands unless measures are taken for immediate release of water into Taladanda canal and three large reservoirs which are considered the lifelines of Paradip, it added.
Meanwhile, most of the residents who have access to government-supplied water have been in miserable states for the last two days since the pump houses fail to draw water as the water level has gone down drastically. A handful of tube-wells produce muddy and acidic water due to overdrawing. Industrial units, villages and farming units which were solely dependent on the water of Taladanda canal are badly hit by the unprecedented water scarcity.
While the locals find it difficult to negotiate the emergency, the PHEO and state water resources department put the blame squarely on the pumping site at Jobra in Cuttack.
There are seven water tanks in Paradip. While two of them have a capacity of 75,000 litre each, five others can store up to 1,00,000 litre of water. On the other hand, the city requires about 12 lakh gallons of water per day which is drawn from a reservoir at Atharabanki through two pump houses.
The water is later supplied to households after treatment. Similarly, Paradip Port has three reservoirs of its own – two over 65 acres of land each and another on 45 acres. Water need of the town can be met for at least four months if these three reservoirs reach their maximum level, sources said. However, the water holding capacity of these reservoirs has gone down alarmingly over the years due to lack of de-silting mechanism in place.
Niranjan Das, a former engineer of PHEO, said the depth of the reservoir was 15 metre in 1963 which has come down to only 12 feet these days. At present, the tanks receive only the left over water of 90-km-long Taladanda canal after a major chunk is absorbed by industries like IFFCO, PPL, Essar Steel and oil refinery, he said.
Some nearby slum dwellers including Rabi Manna, Kailash Mallik and Purabi Haldar said they suffer from skin diseases using the water of the pit they dug out on the perched base of the canal.
Port’s public health department executive engineer Gangadhar Sethi said water supply has been severely hit as water is not being released on the upper catchment area of the canal at Jobra.
Amiya Das, an engineer with the water resources department, said the de-silting work at the supply point at Jobra is underway for last seven days which has led to such a situation. The authorities have started releasing water following a complaint and water would hopefully reach Paradip by Tuesday night, Das said. PNN
