By Thursday evening, the water woes of Chandigarh’s Manimajra – one of the most thickly populated belts of the city – are likely to end, said the officials who have been working round the clock for two days to repair the damaged pipeline carrying water to the region.
After the heavy rainfall in Chandigarh destroyed many water pipelines in the city, the administration stated that repairing the two Bhakra pipelines that transport drinking water to the Union Territory was one of the biggest challenges.
As of now, Manimajra is dependent on tanker water and over 24 water tankers have been pressed into service for the last two days. On Tuesday and Wednesday, each tanker made 12 rounds, supplying 8.5 lakh litres of water to Manimajra.
“The water supply to Manimajra will be restored today evening,” chief engineer N P Sharma told The Indian Express.
Although all the tankers have been pressed into service by the Chandigarh civic body for the residents for free, there were reports of residents paying some amount to the tanker drivers to pump in additional water into their rooftop tanks.
Meanwhile, extremely low water pressure continues in the rest of the city.
Two main Bhakra pipelines — phase 3 and phase 1 — were completely damaged in the heavy rain that took place on Sunday.
Officials stated that it will take another 15 days for phase 3 pipeline to be functional. The trial on the water pressure that phase I can handle will be done by the weekend when the work is complete, they said.
The damage due to the rain has also reduced the capacity of phase 5 and 6 pipelines, officials said.
There are six phases at Kajauli water works that provide water to entire Chandigarh. Of these six, phases 2,4,5 and 6 are functional and are providing supply to the entire city. The water supply hours also have been curtailed by authorities.
“The total requirement of water in the city is 80 MGD and we have 60 MGD available. So there is a shortfall of 20 MGD. At the same time, we also have to supply 12 MGD- 6 MGD each to Chandimandir and 6 MGD to Panchkula. So there is the 12 MGD deficit as well. This shortfall will be shared proportionately by Chandimandir, Chandigarh and Panchkula,” Union Territory Adviser Dharam Pal had said.