Many forced to buy water as wells, borewells go dry

Nagpur: For about 2,500 families living in several localities of Zingabai Takli, the dry spell of monsoon is proving to be excruciating. Reason: In around 10 housing societies or colonies, the only water supply arrangement is through private borewells and wells which have either gone dry or provide scant water. Now, the residents are left at the mercy of private suppliers who charge Rs 1,200-1,500 per 4,000-litre tanker.
On being informed, TOI visited many localities in West Nagpur and found that as municipal water supply is yet to reach their homes, the residents are fully dependent on own arrangements from borewells and wells.
“The crisis in this part of the city has now peaked due to less rainfall this monsoon. As a result, borewells and wells in localities like Manohar Society, Thakre Society, Bambleshwari Society, Natraj Society, Khan Society, Swami Nagar, Assent Society, Ekta Nagar etc have gone dry,” said corporator and former standing committee chairman Sandip Jadhav.
With alternate day water supply, the NMC’s tanker supply too is falling short to suffice the water demand. To a query, Jadhav said the NMC will cover this area to supply piped water under AMRUT scheme. He claimed the civic body has already conducted a survey and work will start in a couple of months.
The groundwater table in Jai Durga Society — where NMC is supplying potable water through network — has depleted and many borewells and wells have gone dry.
Yogesh Somkuwar, a resident of the locality for 10 years, said this is for the first time his borewell has gone dry. Similar is the situation around Somkuwar’s house. His neighbours Sanjay Larokar’s well and Mamta Gadewar’s borewell too have gone dry. Somkuwar and Gadewar had drilled around 100-feet deep for the borewell. One of their neighbours who recently drilled 150ft deep borewell too is complaining.
TOI learnt that at least 20 borewells and 40 wells have gone dry in this locality.
“Nagpur is in the midst of most severe drought yet, and the situation is only going to get worse,” said Somkuwar. Like Somkuwar, his neighbours too have adopted rainwater harvesting system in their respective houses. However, it needs to rain to benefit from it.
The alternate day water supply by the NMC is not sufficient to meet the daily requirements. “My borewell stops yielding water within 10 minutes of operating. Water thus pumped from the borewell is not enough for household works like cooking, washing clothes and utensils. So, we have to buy water in cans daily for drinking purpose and depend on tankers for other requirements. Once a week, we along with our neighbours contribute Rs500 each for purchasing water,” Ramesh Tidke, another resident, said.
Jadhav admitted that indiscriminate digging, excessive drawing of water from existing wells and total disregard to rainwater harvesting was wreaking havoc.