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Water crisis looming large
Acute water crisis is looming large in the city in the ensuing summer. With scanty rains in 2017, the existing water reserves of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation reservoirs will serve drinking needs of the citizens as of now but there would be tough times during peak summer.
Visakhapatnam: Acute water crisis is looming large in the city in the ensuing summer. With scanty rains in 2017, the existing water reserves of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation reservoirs will serve drinking needs of the citizens as of now but there would be tough times during peak summer.
According to senior officials and engineers, in 2016, all the industries, including Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Simhadri Super Thermal Power Plant and other units, faced tough times due to severe water shortage.
The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is providing water needs of industries with an exclusive mechanism. Yeleru, Raiwada, Meghadrigedda, Thatipudi, Gosthani and Mudasarlova reservoirs are the main water sources of corporation.
According to officials, the demand is 85 MGD (millions of gallons per day) water and presently supplying 62 MGDs, including industrial sector, with a total deficit of 23 MGD.
Normally, the demand will be increased in every summer, but during the past five seasons, the water demand has been increasing from February month itself and reaching peak level in April and May. Meanwhile, as there is no dredging and other maintenance works taken up at the reservoirs, water drying up due to evaporation and percolation.
However, according top priority to the drinking water supply to the citizens, the supply was stopped and minimised to the industries in the summer season. The Steel Plant faced severe crisis in 2016 summer. However, the plant is constructing another reservoir to store water.
“At present 130 MGD water is being released from Yeleru canal and supplying 28 MGD for domestic needs, 32 MGD for Steel Plant, seven MGD for NTPC-SSTPP and one MGD for APIIC. With the available waters, there will not be much problem to the domestic supply even in the peak summer also.
However, observing the past five years demand and supply, we are assuming that there will be problems to supply water to the industrial sector in the peak summer,” one of the senior officials of GVMC water wing told The Hans India.
By VKL Gayatri
