Gujarat cities draw up water contingency plans as reservoirs face pressure

The Gujarat government has asked municipal corporations across the state to prepare detailed contingency plans for drinking-water supply for the coming months.

The government has sought information on current water demand, likely requirements in the months ahead, existing water sources and contingency measures that can be activated if supplies come under pressure.

Sources told the Times of India that this is the first time this year that civic bodies have been asked to submit detailed plans of this kind.

The situation is particularly concerning in Saurashtra.

Rajkot has received 420 mm of rainfall so far, compared with 1,214 mm recorded by September 9 last year. The shortfall has prompted the Rajkot Municipal Corporation to seek 800 million cubic feet of water under the Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation scheme to replenish the Aji and Nyari reservoirs.

These reservoirs supply drinking water to Rajkot city.

Rajkot currently draws around 62 per cent of its requirement of 450 million litres per day from the Narmada pipeline.

The civic body normally seeks another 2,000-2,500 mcft under the SAUNI scheme between February and June. This year, it has already submitted an advance estimate seeking 4,000 mcft to see the city through until the next monsoon.

“If we do not get good rainfall by the end of this month, we will have to rationalise water supply,” Rajkot Municipal Corporation commissioner Tushar Sumera said.

The civic body has also begun action against illegal connections and water theft while restricting non-essential bulk water use by water parks, construction sites and swimming pools.

In Jamnagar, the civic body has discontinued daily supply in six of its 16 wards and now supplies drinking water there for about 20 minutes on alternate days.

Jamnagar has received only about 20 per cent of its seasonal average rainfall. The Jamnagar Municipal Corporation has sought another 400 mcft of SAUNI water after receiving 550 mcft around three months ago.

Ahmedabad is not expecting an immediate drinking-water shortage. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation supplies 1,600 MLD of drinking water across the city every day, rising to around 1,650 MLD during summer.

The civic body has not sought any additional allocation of raw water from the state government for the summer.

As a precaution, Ahmedabad is planning to activate eight French wells around the Sabarmati river. The corporation also has the capacity to draw around 300 million litres per day from borewells.

“We do not foresee a drinking water crisis next summer,” a senior AMC official said.

Vadodara currently has a water-supply system with the capacity to draw around 750 MLD.

“As of now, we do not have a problem for the next six to seven months. We do have a contingency plan in place,” municipal commissioner Arun Mahesh Babu said.

Vadodara is working to commission a 75 MLD pumping station and proposes to build another 150 MLD water treatment plant at Sindhrot.

Surat civic officials said drinking-water supply to the city is unlikely to be affected because of storage in the Ukai dam, although its reservoir level is lower than last year.