With summer setting in, water crisis hits Guntur mandals hard

Dachepalli, Kesanapalli, Takkellapadu, Alugumallipadu and other villages are also facing drinking water problem due to drying up of Naguleru, a local stream.
Dried up Gundlakamma stream in Nuzendla mandal of Guntur district I Express
Dried up Gundlakamma stream in Nuzendla mandal of Guntur district I Express

GUNTUR: The people residing at Vinukonda, Macherla and Gurazala in Guntur district walk more than two kilometres every day to fetch drinking water as Gundlakamma, Jerri Vagu, Yerra Vagu, Bugga Vagu, Naguleru, Chandravanka, Gandi Vagu, Pilleru and other local streams in the area have dried up.

The locals said that the officials have failed to take measures to augment drinking water supply in the villages before the onset of summer. As a result, majority of the villages are reeling under severe drinking water crisis. Jerri Vagu, supplies water to Macherla and Veldurthi mandals, but the stream has dried up due to insufficient rain and summer. As a result, the people of two mandals are facing severe water crisis, but no steps have been taken to augment drinking water supply.

As the people of Veldurthi mandal are facing severe water crisis, the RWS department arranged over 15 tankers to supply drinking water in the villages. But the people are asking for more tankers to supply drinking water in the villages. The people said that as there was no water source in the villages, they were demanding an increase in the number of tankers to provide required water in the villages.

A Venkateswarlu of Veldurthi said that they were collecting donations from the villagers to pay for the supply of drinking water. He said that they were paying `500 per tanker. The tanker operators bring the drinking water from Mandadi village by lifting water from borewells. He further said that if they tried to dig a borewell, they were required to dig more than 1,200 feet, but even then there was no guarantee of availability of water and so the people were depending on tankers.

Dachepalli, Kesanapalli, Takkellapadu, Alugumallipadu and other villages are also facing drinking water problem due to drying up of Naguleru, a local stream. So, the people are afraid about water crisis in the initial days of April itself and worry about the probable severe water crisis in May and June. Further, the locals of Dachepalli said that presently the people were using borewell water for drinking purpose but once it also dried up then the water crisis would increase in Dachepalli mandal, hence they were requesting the officials to take measures to ensure drinking water supply in Palnadu region.

ZPTC V Balaswamy, M Anji Reddy and Srinivasa Reddy of Karampudi mandal have asked the NSP officials to release water into Naguleru from Nagarjuna Sagar right canal to provide drinking water to 25 villages of Karampudi mandal. They said that the people of Petasannigandla, Peda Kodamagundla, Chinna Kodamagundla and other villages were facing drinking water crisis so the officials were supplying water through tankers but if they released the water from the right canal into the local stream of Naguleru then the people of 25 villages would get sufficient drinking water during summer.

The problem runs deep 
The people of Nuzendla in Vinukonda segment were also facing severe water crisis due to the drying up of Gundlakamma, which is main source of water to the nearby villages. The stream flows above 35 km of Nuzendla mandal but it has completely dried up due to deficit rainfall. So, the people are demanding that water be supplied through tankers in the villages. Over 100 villages are facing water crisis in Vinukonda segment. Mariyamma and Yesamma of Puvvada in Nuzendla mandal lamented that the officials were negligent about filling the tanks when water was released from the right canal earlier and so they were facing severe water crisis in Nuzendla. a

Steps to tide over crisis
Nagarjuna Sagar Project EE G Vasanti said that the government had decided to release 3,000 cusecs of water up to April 28 to fill the tanks and summer storage tanks in Narasaraopet, Chilakaluripet, Vinukonda and other places for drinking water supply in Guntur and Prakasam districts. She said that the NSP had released the water from Bugga Vagu reservoir to right canal and asked the farmers to cooperate with the officials. She said that the government aims to supply water to low level areas in Guntur and Prakasam districts for drinking water purpose and the final share of water would be released to right canal as per the directions of Krishna River Board.

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