Water woes of summer time
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: August 10 2011 -

Water scarcity is common place in Imphal and greater Imphal. With ponds being no longer dependable and scarcity of safe resources of water the monsoon period is the cruelest part of the year.

It will be unfair to pick out the PHED as the only culprit, there are so many others factors which have compounded the issue. Reckless deforestation is probably the biggest cause.

Apart from select areas, some section of our population have been going hammer and tongs at all standing trees and has quite successfully denuded our forest cover.

This has not only led to loss of top soil but has also brought about a climate change at the micro level. In the scorching heat of summer our lakes and ponds dry up, and more worrying, so too our rivers.

In the process our meager reserve quantum of water resources have become depleted. Water is the essence of life, and yet we are left with the predicament of a perennial shortage of water, year after year. On a long term basis the sanest approach would be to take up afforestation on a massive scale. But this is easier said than done.

In the hills and the foothills, with all the forest cover combed clean, saplings have now become the target. To put it in another way, we might plant huge quantities of trees but the majority of them will disappear before they become sturdy enough to survive on their own.

And anyway to carry out such a venture would in itself be a herculean task. We are left with just one viable option. Construct as many reservoirs as can be done, and at as many places as possible.

Further during the lean period, ration water supply. Since many in Imphal and greater Imphal areas do not have taps, and since the PHED has forgotten the necessity of installing faucets at public water distribution points, the flow of water stops only when the supply itself is stopped. Our ignorance has led us to extravagance.

Let it also be said that our water treatment plants are, to put it mildly, rather rudimentary. Perhaps the Manipur University can conduct tests and checks of the quality of water which the PHED deems fit for public consumption.

One could argue that PHED periodically announces the need to boil water before consumption. We concede them that invaluable truth. They are probably only too aware of the omissions and frivolity of their acts and are possibly trying to tell us 'Don't say we did not warn you!'

Whatever the case, it is babies and the elderly who suffer most after consuming unsafe water, The PHED can do a better job in water treatment and help in reducing cases of gastro-enteritis in the state.

Where we can really confront the PHED is on their fondness of laying water pipes in open drains, and that when the pipes get punctured or cut, their repairmen on hearing complaints become strangely immobile and deaf.

And let us also not forget that some of the water pipes in the city date back to the days of the British rule. Even a child will understand that these pipes should be replaced, not so the PHED.

Perhaps the department is as amazed as us, that they are still able to supply water to the public. They have been taking far too many rests between rests.