Close to Krishna river, yet Tadepalli in Guntur faces water crisis

VIJAYAWADA:  One might think that a town that is close to a river may have abundance of water. That is not the case when it comes to Tadepalli town in Guntur district, located on the banks of Krishna river. The town is reeling under acute shortage of drinking water, thanks to the municipality officials who have failed to evolve measures to upgrade the distribution network on the basis of increased population ratio.

Several people in the town are complaining of poor drinking water supply and are being forced to purchase sealed water at exorbitant rates to meet daily needs. However, the panic-stricken civic body officials are working out various steps to overcome the situation by providing drinking water to the residents on a daily basis rather than supplying on alternate days.

“Whatever little water is supplied, it is polluted because the drinking water gets mixed with sewage in the pipelines’’, said K Esthar Rani, a resident. On several occasions, the issue has been taken to the notice of civic body officials who have turned a deaf ear. Atleast now, the officials should focus on supplying purified drinking water to the residents by setting up a filter bed as promised earlier.

“Earlier, the drinking water was supplied without any interruption in Krishna Nagar. Soon after merging with the municipality, people are facing acute water shortage,” said another resident E David Raju. The officials should accord priority to improve the distribution network on the basis of increased population ratio to avoid inconvenience to the residents, he added.

As per information given by the officials of Tadepalli Municipality, around 3 million litres (MLD) water is being supplied per day in the town against the actual demand of 5 MLD through four overhead water tanks and three under-level water tanks spread over 19.05 km radius. Moreover drinking water pipelines are spread over 140 km length across the town providing water to 4,200 household connections and 500 public taps.

When contacted, Tadepalli Municipality commissioner B Siva Reddy said that the problem will end soon as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has come forward to extend financial support to improve drinking water supply in the town by improving basic infrastructure in municipalities across the State.
Recently, a team of officials from Guntur public health department, conducted a ground level survey.  “A Detailed Project Report has been submitted with an estimated cost of `50 crore to AIIB to improve the water distribution network by constructing infiltration gallery and infiltration wells in Krishna river. In the next few days, tenders will be invited for laying new pipelines for providing drinking water daily,” Siva Reddy added.