While presiding over a review meeting involving water supply department, Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam in the Secretariat on Tuesday, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat stressed on providing water to every household inhabiting every locality of the State during the summer season.
CM was informed in course of the meeting that the water supply department requires Rs 4229 crore for connecting all the 92 cities with sewer lines and another Rs 3402 crore for providing all the inhabitants with running water. CM asked the officials to firm up concrete plans to rejuvenate the natural water sources existing in the State. He sounded concerned over the fast- depleting water table and asked them to educate the Swachchhta Samitis, Mangal Dals and the school students on the importance of preserving the existing natural water sources. While laying thrust on recharging the ground water, he asked the officials to formulate a concrete plan that would involve creating small water reservoirs. “We might use the remote sensing technique to conduct survey of the ground water level,” he said. He stressed on water quality and water availability. Jal Sansthan has been instructed to keep water tanks clean and expedite the installation of water meter for every connection to stop the people from wasting water.
During the meeting, CM was apprised that presently, 316 localities are facing water woes across the state and to solve the scarcity, 151 water tankers have been pressed into service. He was further informed that during the last summer, the number of such localities where water was scarce was 474 and 191 tankers had been pressed into service to provide the people with water.
CM was apprised that 26 out of the 92 cities have been connected with sewer lines so far. For connecting each city with sewer line, the requirement is Rs 4229 crore for installing sewerage system and sewage treatment plant. While 21 cities have 135 lPCD (liter per capita day) 39 cities have 70-135 lPCD, 20 cities have 40-70 lPCD and 12 cities have 40 lPCD. 21776 rural areas out of 39209 are being supplied with running water while 17433 localities are being provided partial water supply. While water supply projects have been sanctioned for 3042 localities the department needs Rs 3402 crore for the remaining 14391 localities. The department has resumed all the water posts on the way to Char Dham Yatra while Kedarnath has been provided with 72 water connections, the officials informed the CM.
