Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Oct 30: Kashmir valley is facing major drinking water crisis due to continuous dry spell in the region and as a result of which the water bodies have largely dried up and glaciers depleted to a large extent.
A senior official of Public Health Engineering (PHE) department told Excelsior that continuous dry spell has caused drinking water shortage across Kashmir and there are crisis. “It is true that we are facing water crisis and that is because the sources have almost dried up. The glaciers are also depleting. We have issued advisories to people at many places and asked them to make judicious use of water,” he said.
He said that the PHE department has also reduced the water supply to certain areas of the Valley to ensure supply of water to every household. “Earlier in some areas, we were supplying water for two hours in day and two hours in evening. Now, we have reduced this to one hour in day and one hour in the evening,” the official said, adding that major sources of drinking water like Doodh Ganga, Sukhnag and Lidder are drying up due to less or no rainfall.
Due to prevailing dry spell, people across the Valley have been complaining of severe drinking water shortage since past 15 days. The shortage has also hit capital Srinagar and during day hours, the water supply remains largely affected. Tariq Ahmad, a resident of Kursu Rajbagh here, told Excelsior that residents are facing huge inconvenience due to water shortage. “Literally, I have had to fetch water one bucket of drinking water from my neigbour few days ago. We are facing huge difficulties and taps are drying up,” he said.
According to latest gauge reading of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department, the water level of Jhelum River at Sangam today at 9:00 am was -0.70 ft and at Ram Munshi Bagh, it was 3.00 ft. In Asham, the River Jhelum level was 1.41 ft. Similarly, the water level of Vishow Nallah at Khudwani was 1.95 m. The water level of Lidder Nallah at Batkoot was just – 0.08 m. The officials of I&FC, which monitor gauge reading, said the Jhelum is flowing at record low level.
The PHE officials said the water tankers of the department are being dispatched to those areas where need arises. “We have tanker service and we dispatch these tankers at the time of requirement. The service is free of cost. But we have appealed people to make judicious use of water and do not waste it,” they said, adding: “if it doesn’t rain, things may aggravate further as many water supplying schemes have been defunct.”
Director Meteorological Department, Sonam Lotus told Excelsior that there is no forecast of rain as of now. “We are not expecting any rainfall in coming days. One week it will remain dry. The atmospheric condition is not favourable and that is why it is not raining,” he said, adding that though it is cause of concern but it keeps on happening. “This is not unusual. But once it will rain, the water shortage would end,” he said. It may be mentioned here that the Valley is witnessing dry spell since September this year.
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