This story is from July 4, 2016

Heavy silt deposition forces closure of Upper Ganga Canal; water supply hit at Noida and Ghaziabad

Heavy silt deposition forces closure of Upper Ganga Canal; water supply hit at Noida and Ghaziabad
File photo of Upper Ganga Canal.
Ghaziabad: The Ganga jal water supply in trans Hindon areas remained suspended on Monday morning. As a result close to eight lakh residents in Ghaziabad had to go without water. Heavy rains in Uttrakhand for the past few days had led to heavy siltation in Upper Ganga Canal forcing irrigation department officials to close down the canal for one day. The water however has been released in the canal but it will take time for normal supply is resumed.
“There have been no supply of Ganga jal in trans Hindon areas of Ghaziabad and Noida as canal in Haridwar had to be closed down for twenty-four hours because of heavy silt deposition in the Upper Ganga canal” says R K Agarwal, project manager, Ganga Jal water treatment plant, Pratap Vihar.
“The supply was affected on Monday morning and it remains to be seen whether we will be able to resume supply in the evening” adds Agarwal.
Meanwhile residents are already complaining of poor water supply. Nirmalendu Mishra of Gaur Green Apartment says “I waited till 10 am for water supply which never came and it was much later that I got to know that Ganga jal water supply have been suspended .” Arvind Mishra of Vaishali says “Ganga jal water is widely used for potable purpose because of its quality but it was frustrating when we did not receive water supply on Monday morning.” “As a result we had to order bottled water to meet our daily demand” adds Mishra.
Meanwhile Sudhir Kumar Sharma, Chief Engineer, Ganga, Meerut zone said “silt deposition of more than 14000 particles per million (ppm)was measured in the Ganga water and with such heavy silt deposition we had no option than to close down the Upper Ganga canal in Haridwar.” “The canal was closed for a period of 24 hours since Saturday midnight but now we have resumed supply and hopefully by Tuesday morning regular supply will be resumed” adds Sharma.
Ganga water is channeled through a 185 Km Upper Ganga canal from Haridwar to Dasna in Ghaziabad. From there through a 19 Km pipeline it is brought to Pratap Vihar Ganga Jal treatment plant where it is processed and 360 Million Liters per day is supplied to parts of Ghaziabad and Noida. Close to 16 lakh population in twin districts are dependent on Ganga jal for their potable needs.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA