Manimajra water crisis likely to end today, officials say pipeline to be operational after testing

Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Commissioner Anindita Mitra said the pipelines will be laid late on Thursday and made operational on Friday after testing.

After the heavy rainfall in Chandigarh destroyed many pipelines, the administration stated that repairing the two Bhakra pipelines that transport drinking water to the Union Territory (UT) was one of its biggest challenges.

As of now, Manimajra is dependent on over 24 water tankers that have been pressed into service for the last two days. On Tuesday and Wednesday, each tanker made 12 rounds, supplying 8.5 lakh litres of water.

Although all the tankers are deployed by the administration without any charges, there were reports of some residents paying extra amount to the drivers to pump in additional water into their rooftop tanks.

Meanwhile, water supply at an extremely low water pressure continues in the rest of the city.

Two main Bhakra pipelines – Phase 3 and Phase 1 – were completely damaged in the heavy rain that took place on Sunday. Officials stated that it will take another 15 days for Phase 3 pipeline to be functional. The trial on the water pressure that Phase 1 can handle will be done by the weekend when the work will complete, they said. The damage due to the rain has also reduced the capacity of Phase 5 and Phase 6 pipelines, officials said.

There are six phases at Kajauli water works that provide water to Chandigarh. Of these six, phases 2,4,5 and 6 are functional and are providing supply to the entire city. The water supply hours also have been curtailed by authorities.

“The total requirement of water in the city is 80 MGD and we have 60 MGD available. So there is a shortfall of 20 MGD. At the same time, we also have to supply 12 MGD – 6 MGD each to Chandimandir and Panchkula. So there is the 12 MGD deficit as well. This shortfall will be shared proportionately by Chandimandir, Chandigarh and Panchkula,” Union Territory Adviser Dharam Pal had said.