ULBs face acute drinking water scarcity in Srikakulam dist

Srikakulam: Drinking water scarcity is yet to be solved in urban bodies in Srikakulam district.

Srikakulam municipal corporation (SMC), Amadalavalasa, Palasa and Itchapuram municipalities are urban local bodies in Srikakulam district.

In Srikakulam city, the problem of drinking water scarcity is yet to be addressed, though the Nagavali river passes through the city.

Due to lack of proper planning, permanent source for drinking water supply has not been built up so far. Still the SMC water supply wing officials are depending on infiltration wells in the Nagavali river.

These infiltration wells are not sufficient to cater to the drinking requirements of the Srikakulam city. During the rainy season, water gets contaminated and the same is being supplied to residents of the city.

No purification plants are available and as a result muddy water is being supplied during rainy season every year. For the last five years, the YSRCP government has not allocated funds to improve the drinking water supply system in Srikakulam.

In Palasa town no standard source is available for supply of drinking water sufficiently. Due to the encroachment of water bodies around the town and expansion of the town in all directions and increase in population, safe drinking water supply became a challenging task here.

Water is not being supplied properly for newly improved areas around Palasa town like Sudikonda Colony, Ramakrishnapuram, Industrial area etc. In 2004, an off-shore project proposed at Regulapadu village in Palasa mandal to draw Mahendra Tanaya river water and supply it to Palasa town and 27 other villages to cater to drinking water requirements and also for irrigation purpose in Palasa and Nandigama mandals. But the works of the projects are moving at a sluggish pace and so far not even 25 per cent of the works have been completed.

Safe drinking water supply situation is not different in Amadalavalasa town. In 2018, the then TDP government proposed to construct a project with Rs 40 crore to solve the drinking water problem in the town and sanctioned the funds.

But before the execution of works, the government changed and YSRCP came into power and not released funds for the project for five years.

In Itchapuram municipality, residents of half of the town are facing difficult situation to get safe drinking water during every summer. The main source for the town is Bahuda river where infiltration wells were arranged 15 years ago. Water level in the river is almost low for more than 10 months in a year due to which sufficient water is not dragged from the river through the infiltration wells.

After the Titli cyclone in 2018, the infiltration wells were damaged and due to insufficient funds repair works have not been initiated so far.