Srinagar, Mar 22: A few days after the government commissioned the Rangil II water supply scheme, to add to the City supplies; acute water shortage has hit most of the areas of the summer capital.
 People have been complaining the shortage of potable water—in City including the outskirts—as the Public Health Engineering department has considerably curtailed the water supply.
 The shortage has been even more acute in the Shahr-e-Khaas areas where locals said that they get water for only a few hours a day that too in the mornings alone.
 According to the officials of the Public Health Engineering, the newly commissioned Rs 31 Crore Rangil II water supply scheme has added around 10 million gallons daily (MGD) of water supply to the City pipelines taking the total availability of water to 55 Million Gallons Daily against the demand of 62 MGD.
 The rest of the demand is met from the other schemes including Rangil I, Doodhganga, Pokhribal, Nishat and Alasteng, the officials said.
 The Chief Engineer PHE, Ghulam Rasool Zargar, told Greater Kashmir that in view of the additional water supply from Rangil II, the water supply distribution system got disturbed and the department was trying to “balance the distribution”.
 He said it would take the department around a week to restore the water supply.
 “We are onto it and we are balancing the system by adjusting flow. At some places we have to close the valves and at some places we have to open it,” he said.
 The Chief Engineer said that Rangil phase I was supplying water to many areas of the City outskirts which was beyond its scope.
 “Rangil I would now be exclusively supplying water to old city while the Rangil II would supply water to City outskirts. We are making these changes,” he said, adding that the adjustment work would take around a week’s time.
 He also attributed the shortage to the rise in the demand. “Since the last week, the temperatures have been soaring and the demand has increased. We have to considerably increase the pressure our lives to a level which is otherwise required in mid summer,” he added.
Bagh-e-Mehtab sans water
Srinagar: The residents of Bag-e-Mehtab are facing acute water scarcity for the past ten days. The residents said the taps were running dry adding that they had to fetch water from other colonies.
 Sources said there was a problem at the water pumping station.
 “The water level in Doodganga Filtration Plant has gone down. The lift pumps are out of order and two motors are also not functioning,” said the source.
 When contacted Chief Engineer, PHE, said, “It might be a minor issue as I have not been informed about the matter so far. Had anybody complained it to me, we would definitely look into the matter”

Lastupdate on : Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 IST