Water woes in Jammu likely to end this year

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 27

Water woes of Jammu are likely to end soon as 19 new tubewells being dug by Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) will be made operational from December end this year.

Officials of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department said it would add close to 2 million gallon daily (MGD) water, the present shortfall the city is facing.

Groundwater is only viable source available at present to meet the requirements of 15 lakh population, despite concern expressed by the environmentalists about overexploitation and fears of contamination of groundwater.

“This will allow us to provide water to areas which face its shortage. Recently Commissioner Secretary, PHE, Sanjeev Varma had also briefed Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti about the efforts being made to end the water shortage in the city,” said a senior PHE official.

As against the total requirement of 47 MGD for Jammu city, the PHE Department is supplying 45 MGD from various sources, including the Tawi. The city areas like Roop Nagar, Janipur, Indira Colony, Buta Nagar, Naseeb Nagar, Ploura, Durga Nagar, Muthi, Ban Talab, New Plots, Sainik Colony, Bathindi, Sunjwan, Narwal, Greater Kailash, etc, are still reeling under water shortage.

In the past decade more than 200 tubewells were dug by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department with the help of ERA. A major drive was started in 2004-05 after the Central Government announced Prime Minister Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) for the state. Though the civic infrastructure has improved a lot in the recent years, but population pressure and underutilisation of infrastructure is becoming a major concern.

“For years now the PHE department has been facing public ire for its failure to ensure regular supply of water in different localities during summer months when the need for water reaches its maximum. We hope that the crisis will now end,” said Suresh Sharma, a local resident.

The Tawi and groundwater are the only avenues available for the government to meet the drinking water requirements of the temple city, which attracts thousands of people from every district of the state.