Water crisis to become more acute in Panchkula

Currently,the district has a water requirement of 17.58 million gallons per day (MGD) and the availability is around 19 MGD,with tubewells being the only source to meet the surging demand.

The township is also embarking fast on the development trail with the Panchkula Extension-I nearing completion by 2011 and more sectors coming up in Pinjore and Kalka which are already facing water crisis.

Keeping this in view,the demand for water too is expected to shoot up from the existing 17.58 MGD to 24.33 MGD. These are the findings of a report prepared by the Haryana Urban Development Authority in 2008 in which it had analysed the water requirement of each sector taking into account its population,number of houses etc.

In the same report,HUDA has pegged the availability of water to 27.14 MGD. However,sources in the administration as well as HUDA are skeptical about meeting the requirement,forget having access to water by 2011.

They claim that with the depletion of water table,the water supply from tubewells will decrease to around 18.50 MGD,making it all the more essential for the government and HUDA to expedite the Kajauli water project and completion of the Kaushalya dam.

The township is looking at Kajauli to provide it a share of 3.24 MGD and 5.40 MGD from the Kaushalya dam. While Punjab is unwilling to let go of water from Kajauli,MC claims that HUDA too is unwilling to push it further as it is an expensive affair.

“The district has low gradient height compared to UT and getting water from Kajauli would mean spending Rs 150 crore to lay pipelines.

But that should not be a deterrent when it comes to securing regular water supply for the township,” said former MC president Ravinder Rawal.