Nellore: Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department has been gearing up to address the drinking water problems in Kavali, Sullurpeta and Venkatagiri mandals during the summer.
One relief for the department, which would have already commenced the operations by now, was heavy rains that lashed the district in November and contributed to the increase in groundwater table.
Except few upland mandals, most parts of the district received adequate rainfall last year and officials believe that they can manage April and May and face the scarcity between June and August.
According to sources in the department, 50 villages in Kavali assembly segment, three mandals in Venkatagiri segment and two mandals in Sullurpeta apart from some villages in Udayagiri constituency need special attention from middle of May.
In this backdrop, RWS has chalked out an action plan to clear the silt in the bore wells besides deepening of open wells and bores. This is addition to identifying private water sources near villages facing water shortage to supply the water.
If the source belongs to private parties, RWS would pay fixed rent per month to tap the water and it will be carried either through pipeline or tankers depending on the distance to habitation in need of the water.
Drinking water proposal have been taken up in different Assembly segments under Comprehensive Protected Water Supply Scheme (CPWS). There were 33 drought affected mandals in Nellore district last year. In the remaining habitations drinking water is being supplied by Comprehensive Protected Water Supply Scheme (CPWSS), Protected Water Scheme (PWS), Direct Pumping, and Mini Protected Water Supply Scheme.
In some mandals, steps are being taken to deepen the bore wells wherever the yield of bore wells decreasing due to ground water table depletion. Every day drinking water is supplied by 2,836 schemes in the district, Superintendent Engineer of RWS, R.V. Krishna Reddy said. According to the SE, Rs 2.75 crore has been sanctioned for the year 2015-16 under District Collector Drought funds.
In this 1,453 works are sanctioned with an estimated cost of Rs. 1.09 crore out of which 1,124 are completed and remaining are in progress. Presently transportation is doing in 4 habitation namely Mannemutheri ,Yadabalem, Gampala Kandriga and Bodivani dibba due to quality problem, he added.
