Guwahati May Face Unprecedented Drinking Water Crisis By 2025

GUWAHATI: Guwahati will face an unprecedented drinking water crisis by 2025 in case Dispur fails to complete execution of its four water-supply projects at South Guwahati West, South Guwahati Central, South Guwahati East and North Guwahati.

“The four water-supply projects were designed by the Guwahati Development Department to cater to the need of the city’s estimated population of nearly 25 lakh in 2025. But the progress of execution of these projects is literally slower than the snail. If the present trend of progress continues, there is no chance of completion of these projects by 2025,” a source closely associated with the water projects said.

The present requirement of water for over 10 lakh population in the city is about 132 million litres of water per day (MLD) against which the government agencies are supplying only 79 MLD, the source said. The city’s daily drinking water requirement will go up to 350 MLD by 2025.

“Under such circumstances, the city will face an unprecedented drinking water crisis by 2025,” the source said.

Sources said that sensing the threat of severe drinking water crisis in the future, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal recently took stock of progress of the ongoing construction work of Greater Guwahati Water Supply Project being implemented by JICA and directed the agency to commission the first phase of this project before October this year.

The Sonowal government had also received feedbacks from the BJP party workers in Guwahati during the recent campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections that the city residents are extremely disappointed with the erratic and poor drinking water supply.

The BJP candidate from Guwahati LS seat Queen Oja told The Sentinel that she had realized during her recent campaigning that the drinking water crisis would emerge as a major challenge for the government in the coming days. “If I win the Lok Sabha election, I will put tremendous pressure on the governments — both in Delhi and Dispur — to solve drinking water crisis for Guwahatians,” Oja said.

Also Read: Top Headlines