Water Crisis In Guwahati City: How Wise Is It To Let It Go Waste?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: It is well known by all and sundry that water is the most precious resource. We are surrounded by this natural resource as it covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface. There is no dearth of water in this planet but then, what is the hue and cry about? It is because less than 1 percent of, which is but a tiny fraction of the water available to us, is suitable for human consumption.

“Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink”, this quote has never been truer than in the recent times. Guwahati city is plagued with scarcity of drinking water supply. Long queues can be observed near water supply pipes as people make do with just a bucket or two of water to last 24 hours for the entire family. The problem has aggravated in the recent times as even these supply pipes, more often than not, fail to supply water, sometimes for days on end. Protests and demands at the government to secure safe drinking water for the citizens are common news now. But what does one do when in the midst of such scarcity, water is wasted?

A drinking water pipeline in Basisthapur, lane 3, is oozing out treated water through a hole in the pipe in the gutters below it. As per sources, this has been going on for almost 3 days with galleons of precious water, wasted. “I saw the leakage two days back and notified the authorities, however, no one has arrived to secure the pipe”, a local of the area stated. “The water is flowing out in full force and I can’t even begin to imagine how much water has flown away in the gutters. Where we are facing severe problems due to lack of water, here the water is just going to waste.”

As is known and well understood in the face of the recent water crisis, every drop of water is precious. “Although much water has already been spoilt due to the hole in the pipe, at least now, the authorities should take notice of the wastage and secure the pipe at the earliest”, another local of the area, Arnab Das commented.

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