People from Haldwani’s lamachaur, Fatehpur and adjacent areas staged protest here on Monday, demanding early restoration of the drinking water supply to their areas that continued to remain disrupted for several days due to faulty tube wells.
The agitating residents said due to faulty tube wells drinking water supply to Haldwani’s lamachaur, Fatehpur, and adjacent areas remained disrupted for about two weeks. They demanded early restoration of drinking water supply to their areas.
Similarly, drinking water supply to many parts of Haldwani’s Damuwadhunga and its adjacent areas also remained disrupted for many days due to the faulty tube well. As it takes at least a fortnight or so for the officials to rectify a faulty tube well, residents of such areas continued to experience hard times. The poor drinking supply to their areas has persisted for long.
However, the officials concerned of the Jal Sansthan, Haldwani have claimed to restore the drinking water supply to the affected areas soon. Some of the areas which remained badly disrupted due to poor drinking water supply in Haldwani’s Damuwadhunga and its adjacent areas include Shivpuri, Snagam Vihar, Kumaon Colony, to name only a few areas.
The officials have claimed that the demand of drinking water of the people are being met on regular basis. But residents are not convinced and said water tankers and other measures adopted by the officials have turned out to be insufficient in quenching the thirst of a huge population of Damuwadhunga and its adjacent areas. With summer season setting in, people claimed the drinking water crisis may only worsen ahead because of poor drinking water distribution of Haldwani city.
The fact of the matter is that there is no scarcity of drinking water in Haldwani with availability of the drinking water in Haldwani remaining about 35 million litre per day (MlD) against a demand for only around 28 (MlD) per day.
But, residents have continued to suffer because of poor drinking water distribution system. So the only solution is to have a smooth drinking water supply which for the time being appears to be a difficult thing despite some steps taken by the officials.
Though the Jal Sansthan has installed tube wells in many parts of urban as well as rural parts of Haldwani, the drinking water crisis continues to remain a cause of concern because it takes at least a fortnight to rectify a faulty tube well.