(Women in Manmad say they suffer the most due to the water scarcity)
MANMAD (NASHIK): Welcoming guests with half a glass of water has become a way of life over the past five decades in this north Maharashtra town, where having storage tanks, pumps and borewells is a top priority for the residents who have to wait for at least a fortnight to get their share from the civic authorities.
The year 2022 is no different for the 1.3 lakh residents of Manmad, the third biggest urban zone in Nashik district. The Manmad Municipal Council (MMC) is supplying water to the residents once in every 12-15 days, adding more to the trouble of the residents struggling to beat the heat with day temperatures hovering around 41oC.
The frequency of water supply, however, changes depending upon the stock at Waghdardi dam that stores water for the town. The Waghdardi dam gets water from the Palkhed dam in Dindori via a reservoir in the Patoda are3a of Yeola taluka.
All 15 wards of the town get water by turns once in 15 days. The gap is likely to increase, as the town has started witnessing load-shedding for over six hours every day. This will impact the supply from the filtration plant.
MMC chief officer Sachin Kumar Patel and the head of the civic body’s water department, Amrut Kajve, admitted to TOI that water was being supplied for three-four hours once in 15 days to the residents. “We are keen on reducing the gap. But it all depends on the availability of water in the Waghdardi dam,” Patel said.
An MMC official said every household in Manmad has a pump to draw water supplied by the civic body. “The residents also set up borewells despite the level dipping in summer. The MMC has 250 tube wells across the town,” the official said.
Manmad is in the rain shadow region and dependent on Palkhed dam, from where the town gets around 25-30 MCFT of water by rotation after every three months.
A visit to the town revealed that every residential and commercial property has at least five-six overhead water storage tanks. The narrow lanes leading to the innumerable slums remain blocked by such tanks, as the residents cannot keep them on the unstable tin roofs.
“a sizeable section of people working in banks and other organisations in manmad prefer to travel every day from nashik, they do not rent a house in manmad due to the water problem. “water is such a scarce commodity in manmad that welcoming guests at home with half a glass of water is normal,” said kalpesh bedmutha, a local businessman and social worker.
the women of the town appear to have become stoic. “getting water after every 12-15 days has become a way of life. we manage our daily work with the water that we store,” said taramati bhadhe, a 75-year-old resident of pinjjar gali.
meena mansuri, who has been living in manmad for long, said, “our families do not attend social gatherings, including weddings, on days when water supply is scheduled.”
the aggrieved residents had in 2013 formed the save manmad action committee and filed a pil in the bombay high court. that year, the residents had received water once every 55 days.
“the court took a strong note of the situation, following which the government woke up from its slumber. but a lack of political will at the local level failed to put pressure on the government and get the problem resolved,” ashok pardeshi, head of the save manmad action committee. “the dismal water scenario in manmad has forced almost one-third of its residents to shift to nashik over the years,”he said.
manmad civic officials attributed the residents’ hardship to several factors. “the waghdardi dam does not have a good stock during monsoon due to poor rainfall. the leaking water pipeline, which is over 30 years old, should be replaced. at least 20,000 litres of water is wasted every month due to the leakage,” an official said.
“the manmad municipal corporation had submitted to the government a rs3 crore pipe replacement plan for approval. however, the approval is yet to arrive. one of the two filtration plants has technical snags and cannot function fully,” he said.
As published on http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/90901096.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
By, The times of India Ranjan Dasgupta Apr 18, 2022
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