Imphal and other outlying areas are still facing acute scarcity of drinking water though pre-monsoon showers have come. The rivers are slowly filling up with the rains brought in this region as a result of the recent cyclone in Bangladesh and Myanmar. Yet, something seems to be wrong with the distribution system as pipes in many parts of capital city remain dry.
What seems strange is that when a leikai (locality) gets regular water supply through the pipes, it is not so regular in the neighbouring leikais. Maybe it is because special pipelines are being laid in the interest of some influential persons or VVIPs.
Once the neighbours get wind of the regular supply in the special lines, consumers shift their intake pipes to the new and special pipelines. This is indeed the state of affairs in water distribution system.
Meanwhile, the phenomenon of irregular water supply or dry pipelines is only for the common people and the general public and it does not include the VVIPs.
The Water Supply scheme managed by PHED inside the sacred Kangla is practically responsible for the supply of water to most of VVIPs in Imphal area.
It has been quite some time that water from Thoubal or Maphou Dam had reached the Chingkhei Ching Water Treatment plant and from there the laying of pipes and works for supply of drinking water to various water supply schemes in Imphal is going on in right earnest.
When the rivers in Imphal dried up, water from Chingkhei was drained into the rivers so as to activate river-based water supply schemes. But one does not understand why it is taking so much time to ensure regular supply of drinking water to the city areas.
As we emphasised earlier, safe drinking water is basic in the life of the common people, which the state government should ensure.
Everyone in the world is talking about the water crisis looming large in view of the diminishing water sources and the impact of climate change.
Water covers 70 per cent of our planet, and it is easy to think that it will always be plentiful.
However, freshwater, the stuff we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with, is incredibly rare.
Only three per cent of the world’s water is fresh water, and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise unavailable for our use. As a result, some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least a month of the year.
Many of the water systems that keep the ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human population have become stressed. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use.
More than half the world’s wetlands have disappeared. Agriculture consumes more water than any other source and wastes much of that through inefficiencies.
The ecosystems around the world will suffer even more.
India is currently facing the biggest water crisis in its history. In fact, it is considered the centre of the global water crisis. The problem is so big, our lives, livelihoods, and futures hang in the balance.
In Manipur, the capital, Imphal city has been facing a drinking water crisis for the last several months. Water is not flowing in the PHED pipes anymore in many areas and people are buying water from private water tankers at exorbitant rates. But no one seems to bother.
Major portions of Imphal city has been facing water scarcity and have had to depend on private water tankers. In fact, private water supply has become a booming business. The rate of private tankers supplying water to many homes had increased two fold and sometimes three-fold as a result of scarcity of petrol and diesel caused by curfew and rationing of fuel at oil pumps.
The PHED minister had warned these private suppliers of water with even a threat of lodging FIRs. But, the state is yet to see any action taken up in this regard.
