Water supply once a month: lessons to be learnt from Latur
Many may not have been to Latur. But there is a lesson for all in the water
crisis in this south-east Maharashtra town.
Last week, the city's four lakh residents were told they would receive municipal
water supply only once a month. This was after a decision to supply water once
in 15 days. Clearly, something has gone spectacularly wrong.
The crisis was sparked by two successive years of poor rainfall in the
drought-prone region. But the story actually lies in the breakdown of water
planning by successive governments.
Had the governments acted in time, the calamity could have been avoided. As
climate change increasingly leads to dry spells and water becomes increasingly
scarce, Latur holds out a warning for all our cities, including the 'smart'
ones.
The situation
Latur is situated in Marathwada, a region notorious for water shortages.
Pictures of people there milling about water tankers and stories about how
difficult it is to fetch water have become common over the year.
This year, the region is reeling from a severe drought as rainfall was just half
of normal.
Latur does not have any major river flowing by it and the groundwater table
there has halved in three years. The city gets most of its water supply from the
Manjara dam, whose reservoir is used to store water from a good monsoon.
But the current water level at Manjara is barely 1% of its capacity because of
poor rainfall in two consecutive years. This is what makes this year especially
worse.
The previous drought in 2012 was cushioned by a good monsoon in 2011. Similarly, enough rains in 2013 helped soften the effects of the 2014 drought.
For more details visit http://www.catchnews.com/environment-news/water-supply-once-a-month-lessons-to-be-learnt-from-latur-1441632486.html
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