Baripada: With the summer at its peak, the people of Baripada town are facing a drinking water crisis. A plummeting groundwater level has added to the problem. But work on a drinking water supply project at Jambira is going on at a tardy pace.
Earlier, water used to be available 50 feet below, but it now available only at 70 feet, according to PHEO officials.
Baripada town has a population of 1.20 lakh. The people here are supplied water by the municipality and the PHEO. The town requires 18.60 million litres of water per day, but now only 16.30 million litres are available.
The PHEO authorities said the Jambira water project is being executed at a cost of Rs 84.22 crore. The project involves laying of 122-km pipelines and will provide 25 million litres of water. The project will be completed by 2020, and the town will no longer face water crisis, it was said.
Now, work on a 16 million litre water treatment plant has started. The laying of pipes from Jambira project site (15 km) to the treatment plant is also being undertaken. Construction of six new overhead drinking water tanks has also started. However, Jajati Mohanty of Sachetan Nagarika Manch, a local outfit, said the work is moving at a snail’s pace.
In coming days, water and sanitation committees will be set up in each ward. Each committee will have 12 residents as members who will advise the people about the use of sanitised water and ways to curb misuse of water.
The problem is that the groundwater level has been falling in Baripada.
Many environmentalists were dismayed to learn about the fall in the groundwater level when a river is flowing nearby and the Similipal forest is just a few km away.
Prakash Chandra Das, SDO of Baripada PHEO, did not make any comment about the fall in the groundwater level. He said after completion of the Jambira water supply project, there will be no shortage of drinking water.