Acute shortage of drinking water in Agra

Agra faces acute drinking water shortage

Agra: Ever since the mercury has risen this summer, breaking several old records, residents of Agra are enduring acute shortage of drinking water and even compelled to buy water at a premium. In some areas one can witness the broken water mains over a drain and people hanging their buckets to fetch drinking water from the cracked pipes just above the slushy drain. Water from pipes next to drains has also led to cases of water-borne diseases, particularly among the children. There are also certain neighbourhoods where the womenfolk have to walk as much as two to three kilometres to fetch water. They manage to gather water by digging and it is not fit for drinking. "There are no hand pumps. There is no water in taps as well. Women have to travel long distances to get water. We are facing a lot of problems. Children are falling sick. There is no water anywhere somehow we are getting water from cracked pipes near drains and are trying to fulfill our requirement,' said Hem Lata, a resident. Capitalising on the scarcity of water, many unscrupulous elements, who own tankers are selling water. However, dependence of water tankers is not a permanent solution for people as often these tankers do not arrive on time. "These people get tankers here and sell water. Sometimes we get it at one or two rupees per bucket or ten to fifteen rupees per drum, this is the way everybody here gets water," said Bashir Ahmed, another resident. Jawahar Ram, General Manager of Agra Water Board said that in summer season water crisis is felt by the people and the demand is more as such extra measures are taken to bridge the gap. "As compared to winters there is more requirement of water in summers and thus people start feeling crisis. So I continuously make appeal to people that they should use water wisely. They should drink it and close the tap so that water is not wasted. And wherever people are facing problems I have opened a Control Room here so that their problems are immediately answered," he added. Water crisis is not a new phenomenon in India . Many parts of the country experience water shortage.
-May 18, 2009

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