Vizag Apartment Dwellers, Slums Facing Acute Water Crisis

Visakhapatnam: People living in apartments across Visakhapatnam city are facing a severe water crisis. Water tanker owners are exploiting the situation by charging unreasonable amounts.

As the levels of water reservoirs and groundwater have declined, bore wells in many areas of the city have dried up. Piped water supply has reduced to once every two or three days in some localities. As such, residents are forced to depend on private water tankers.

“Private tanker owners collect 5,000 litres of water from suppliers for Rs 500. They are selling the water in the tanker to the needy residents for Rs 3,000 in an attempt to take advantage of the current situation,” confessed an official from the Water Supply department of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.

Cases of water tanker owners dodging supplies to residences are increasing. They prefer to supply water to hotels and commercial establishments, as they can collect further higher amounts.

Tanker owners are refusing to supply water at ₹900 per 5,000 litres of water, the cost fixed by GVMC authorities.

On Thursday, the demand had been so high that people gathered at the TSR Complex pump house pleading with water tanker owners to supply water to their households.

“The situation is worse in slums, which account for over a million people,” said P Mani, a CITU leader. GVMC is supplying water once in two days that too for a mere 20 minutes, he charged.

Citing reasons for the crisis, GVMC officials said deficit rainfall in June and July due to the El Nino effect has pushed groundwater down to record low levels. In some urban areas, groundwater has fallen to more than 20 metres below ground level.

Water levels in reservoirs too have fallen during the last two months. Mudasarlova has dried up completely. Other reservoirs – Meghadrigedda, Raiwada, Thatipudi, and Gosthan,i are reporting low levels.

Executive engineer of the GVMC Water Supply department said the city requires 400 million litres per day (MLD) of water. 320 MLD is being supplied currently, of which 90 MLD goes to industries.

He said water supply is being streamlined by launching a call centre through which residents can book their water tankers. Water will be delivered within two hours of booking.

CREDAI Vizag president E. Ashok Kumar said rain harvesting pits should be made compulsory in apartments where bulk water is essential. New apartments coming up must not be issued occupancy certificates without the presence of rain harvesting pits.

According to an estimate, there are about 8,000 big and small apartment complexes in Visakhapatnam city.