Manipur water scarcity at peak

Imphal: With no rainfall for the past 3-4 months in Manipur, people in the state have been facing water scarcity as rivers which provides water for public water supply get dry.

This is not the first time Manipur faces water scarcity in dry season. The government should have taken suitable measures to overcome this perennial problem, said a senior citizen at Imphal talking to Pothashang news.

As the government tape water supply tends to stop its service due to drying up of rivers flowing in the valley, people has increased relying to private water tankers.

However, the private water suppliers have started facing the worst situation in fetching water from private mini water reservoirs.

Clubs near Iril river, one of the key source of water supply, in Imphal East district have asked mini water reservoirs’ runners to stop pumping out water from the river stating that the available river water should be reserved for the people living near the river. Hence, water tankers runners cannot get water from this site, a small water tanker transporter said.

He said he has to be in long queue for hours to fetch water from Porompat water treatment plant. “Today my tank was refilled once from this plant. Government tankers are given priority.”

Price of potable water supply by mini water tankers has increased from Rs 250 to Rs 400 for 1200 litres.

So far people have not raised a collective voice asking for a helping hand from the government, but keeps complaining of increasing price of supplying water to Imphal residents, the water tanker driver said.

He said he usually supplies water to 7 to 8 houses per day during favorable season. But, it has become hard to supply water to 3 consumers.

A video of people fetching water with buckets from an almost empty water tank at Sadan Senba Maring village under Keirao Assembly Constituency has gone viral. The video posted on Facebook has garnered more than 1 lakh views and more than 500 shares.

Many are of the view that due to deforestation rainfall has been reduced in the state. At the same time, wetlands which act as naturally reservoirs have been vanished which worsens the water scarcity problem in the state.