VIJAYAWADA: Officials of the Rural Water Supply (RWS) department are confident that there would be no scarcity of drinking water this summer. They asserted that except in some parts of Prakasam district and Anantapur district, drinking water sources are ample across the State, thanks to the copious rains that helped in increasing groundwater levels.
According to the officials, except Prakasam district, all the remaining districts, including those in the drought-prone Rayalaseema region, have received good rains. This resulted in filling up of tanks and other water resources in villages.
When contacted, RWS chief engineer Hari Ram Naik said except in some parts of Prakasam districts, including Podili and Markapur, there would be no scarcity of drinking water in rural areas this summer.
“As per the present estimates, there is sufficient water and we will have to review the situation in the days to come to take required steps in case of any scarcity of drinking water in any of the areas,” he added.
The chief engineer also pointed out that the practice of supplying drinking water through tankers has declined to a great extent in the recent years.Ram Naik further said they are expediting the works of Jal Jeevan Mission intended to provide drinking water connection to every household in the State.
As per official data, out of the total 95.16 lakh houses in rural areas across the State, water tap connections have been provided to 44.70 lakh houses so far. The remaining 50.567 households are yet to receive the connections.
Apart from providing water tap connections to 12 lakh houses this fiscal, the government targets to provide 27.80 lakh water tap connections in 2022-23 and 10.66 lakh houses in 2023-24.