Guwahati’s Water Supply

Guwahati, the premier city of the northeastern region, is said to be the worst city in the country as far as drinking water supply to its citizens is concerned. The city continues to face a significant shortage of drinking water, with estimates showing a daily shortfall of 110 million litres. This has happened despite the fact that the mighty Brahmaputra River, which has an average water discharge of about 20,000 cubic metres per second, flows right through the city. It reflects very poorly on the city that its residents – the overwhelming majority of whom are taxpayers – have to rely heavily on groundwater and private vendors. Conservative estimates say that Guwahati has a daily drinking water requirement of over 183 million litres, of which the various authorities – Guwahati Municipal Corporation, GMDA, Guwahati Metropolitan Drinking Water and Sewerage Board, and Public Health Engineering Department – put together have been able to supply only around 73 million litres of tap water every day. As the government itself has been admitting from time to time, there is a serious infrastructure gap as far as piped drinking water supply to the citizens is concerned. Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and other government agencies which are mandated to ensure piped drinking water supply to the city residents lack the necessary infrastructure to provide piped water to a significant portion of the city’s residents. The southeast zone of the city is the worst, where the citizens – taxpayers – have zero access to piped water supply service. This has compelled them to rely solely on groundwater or private water tankers. It has been scientifically proven time and again that groundwater in Guwahati is heavily contaminated with arsenic and fluoride. Arsenic is a highly toxic element which can cause a range of health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, skin lesions and various kinds of cancers. Fluoride content in Guwahati’s groundwater, on the other hand, is said to be much above the guideline values of the World Health Organisation (WHO). High fluoride levels can lead to dental fluorosis and, in severe cases, even skeletal fluorosis. The quality of water supplied by private vendors – most of whom are unauthorised, and water also collected from unauthorised and unsafe sources – can also be a matter of concern, with studies reportedly indicating potential issues like heavy metal contamination, thus posing health risks. Unlike in most cities of the country, Guwahati does not have any mechanism in place to monitor water quality on a regular basis. There is also no mechanism to check the sources from where the private vendors have been collecting water for supply to the residents. Several appeals made by the chief minister, asking the citizens in general and apartment building societies in particular to go for rainwater harvesting, had fallen on deaf ears.