JHARSUGUDA: Scarcity of drinking water has added to the summer woes of the people of Jharsuguda district. The residents of nearly 23 Wards under Jharsuguda, Brajrajnagar and Belpahar municipalities are yet to get regular supply of drinking water through pipelines.
Against the daily drinking water requirement of 135 litres per head, the PHED is able to supply only 48 litres in Jharsuguda, 36 litres in Brajrajnagar and 14 litres per head in Belpahar.
With a population of 1,07,290, Jharsuguda’s total daily requirement stands at around 13.88 million litres per day. But PHED is able to supply only 4.94 million litres. Out of 24 Wards, the people of five Wards are fortunate to get continuous water supply while 14 wards are getting water partially. Rest five wards are still without any drinking water. A total of 1,759 houses in the five Wards are being supplied water through pipeline with 220 stand posts and 666 tube wells.
In Brajrajnagar municipality, out of 23 Wards, only four wards get continuous supply of water through pipeline while it is partially supplied in 10 Wards and the people of rest nine Wards are forced to go without regular supply. While the daily requirement is 11.66 million litres, only 3.11 million litres is supplied. In Belpahar municipality, against the actual requirement of 6.47 million litres per day, only 0.65 million litres of water is supplied.
The only source of drinking water __ Ib and Bheden rivers __ have almost dried up while the tubewells in several areas ooze very less water.