Drought-hit Latur is reeling heavily with water crisis and our learning ::
It is reported in the news, in recent weeks that Latur taluke in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region is facing the unprecedented ‘drought’ . Other districts such as Beed and Osmanabad too are facing water scarcity, but they are not as badly off. There are almost 12 lakh residents of Latur taluka, one of the biggest food grain markets in the country,
Though, an inadequate monsoon has lead for such water scarcity, the severity could have been avoided if the administration authority , would take any attempt to stop water leakage or theft or to reserve water timely in the nearby Nagziri and Sai barrages which could have proved alternatives to Dhanegaon dam.
It is also viewed that the administration also failed in stopping sugarcane producers from using water from their bore wells. Had the administration acquired the bore wells for public purpose, the shortage would not have been this acute. Since February 22, the municipal corporation has started rationing water and even stopped supplying it through taps. Every household is supplied 200 litres of water free of cost once a week against the daily need of 85 litres of water per person and now, for more water, private vendors are the answer.
To make matters worse, the Dhanegaon dam is almost dried up in the third week of March, the first time since it was built in 1981. The 646-metre-high dam with a storage capacity of 227 billion cubic metres is a lifeline for three big cities-Latur, Kalamb and Kej. A public water valve gets water directly from the Dhanegaon dam, the lone water supplier for Latur city. As the water level goes far below the dead storage level , the valve for the delivery line , emits only hot air, no water.
Almost 70 per cent of Latur residents have bore wells, but they too have run dry. Latur bears the brunt of Marathwada’s drought as its 12 lakh residents struggle to get drinking water. The private vendors forced to buy water at Rs 150 for 10 litres i.e Rs 15 per lit.
Meanwhile, the business of private water tankers has boomed in the city. One needs to pay anything between Rs 800–1,200 for a tanker with a water capacity of 6,000 litres i.e. Rs 6 per litre. The corporation fills its tankers from three barrages-Dongargaon, Bhandarwadi and lower Terna-located in the 40-km periphery around Latur. The private vendors pick water from private borewells and wells owned by several farmers. There is so much demand that residents have to book a tanker two days in advance.
However, the Municipal commissioner said that they are planning to manage the water resources in a way that they will last till July-end, the time when the monsoon gets settled, in spite of shortage of drinking water.
Meanwhile,Latur, is mulling over two possible ways of overcoming the water scarcity:
i) One, a direct pipeline from Ujani dam on the border of Pune and Solapur districts, around 175 km from Latur; and second, transporting water from temple town Pandharpur by train. The first is an expensive option requiring funds of around Rs 1,000 crore. ii) The second option is cheaper at Rs 1.5 crore per goods train bogey.
Initially, a special water train of 10 wagons was arranged to carry around five lakh litres of water for parched Latur in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region, which reached on 12th April’16. Each wagon with a capacity of around 50,000 liters, was filled with water at Miraj railway station in Sangli district,”, taking 18 hours to traverse a distance of around 350 kilometres. The district administration had acquired a huge well located near Latur railway station to store the water which will then be supplied to Latur town.
In the mean time , 2nd and 3rd train, consisting of 50 wagons have already been arrived at latur, In the three trips, so far the railways have delivered 55 lakhs liters of water and more trips are in process.
Now, the question arises why the administrative authority failed to take up suitable water crisis management in spite of full awareness of inadequate monsoon of last two years , even no rain experienced for a prolong period in this large part of the area. It appears that earlier action to address the problem suitably with alternative measures, probably could reduce the severity of droughts and also the adverse affects to living condition. Moreover, considering the dry weather and also the non- availability of water in lone reservoir at Dhanegaon , the authority could follow a water crisis management programme for emergent conservation of drinking water in the corporation reservoir system and even, if needed , acquiring the private wells for temporary storage of drinking water , projecting the requirement up to next July , beginning of the monsoon, 2016.
Some organisations also believe, that though the concerned authority was fully aware that an inadequate monsoon could lead to water scarcity , did do nothing to stop water leakage or theft , nor was any attempt made to reserve water in the nearby Nagziri and Sai barrage , which could have proved alternatives to Dhanegaon reservoir in spite of nature’ apathy towards rains . The situation could have been minimized significantly, if 50% loss of precious/ valuable water through 45,000 leakages in the transit system of 45 km from Dhanegaon to Latur , as reported , were stopped by restoration the damages in time . It seems that there is some mismanagement and lack of initiative , in the water conservation for the supply of water to the needy.
However, in the existing scenario, finding no other alternatives, the supply of water via railway water tankers at suitable strategic points is definitely an alternative solution to combat the crisis.
One report says that both Govt of India & states are incurring expenditures to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore in each year for the supply of water& sanitation purpose. But, the relief cannot be extended towards the end user people for the bulk loss of water at the delivery system.
In the consequence of above scenario, it would have been better if any leakage or wastage of water in the delivery system is avoided to the maximum extent for all the water supply projects. Thus , the apathy to this effect has caused heavy price during the period of drought / or dry season, as the conservation of each drop of water would be very precious to the thirsty people to drink water.
Finally, I like to mention that a well developed water distribution system , though it requires large capital investments , its long time benefits accrue only when supported by an effective system of maintenance , with the maximum efficacy to supply water at the users end . The negligence to deliver water to the real beneficiaries due to poor maintenance and consequence deterioration to the system , may cause the question mark for the viability of the projects and can also prove expensive. Nonetheless, if the consumers receive lesser services, it would be difficult to recover the cost. The failure to recover costs also may stifle the development of more efficient, low cost options for service delivery and the consumers’ opportunity to demand better services.
Therefore, one of the major concern should be — “ to remain proper vigilant & also keeping a close watch to each implemented water supply scheme”, so that it does occur no wastage of water through leakage or theft , during the transit period of delivery system , otherwise the greedy people will take opportunity of such crisis period by selling the water commercially with exaggerated price to the same needy people for whom the project was mooted.
However, barring that ,we have to realize that about 68% of India, is drought -prone in varying degrees ,which is characterised by severe water scarcity with the result of failure to meet all our basic needs . The Govt. of India informed the Supreme Court that 33 crore people , or more than the country’s quarter of the population , are in the grip of drought and consequently face drinking water shortage and agriculture distress . Therefore, both the states and centre , may look into the issue for an effective planning for water conservation and storage , from an overall perspective to move towards sustainable water usage to mitigate and control , the follow out effect of such wide spread deficient rainfall.
