- Water transported from Rutland to Phongibalu through water barge
- Transshipment of water from Hut Bay to Port Blair through DSS vessel
- Tender floated for laying of submarine pipeline between Rutland & Phongibalu
- General public urged to adopt water conservation measures
Port Blair, Apr 15: Due to high deficit of North-East monsoon
rains, Hon’ble Lt. Governor, A&N Islands had issued directions to APWD to
review the water availability and supply position and take necessary measures
for sustaining water supply till the arrival of next monsoon. Accordingly, APWD
reviewed the availability of water supply from various sources including Dhanikhari
Dam which is the main water source for Port Blair and surrounding areas. The
storage level of water in all the reservoirs and sources, have drastically
declined due to poor rainfall during the period from December, 2019 to till
date. The rainfall data of the previous years is given below:
(Rainfall in millimetres)
|
Year
|
|
2016-17
|
2017-18
|
2018-19
|
2019-20
|
|
December
|
|
478
|
219
|
189
|
0
|
|
January
|
|
96
|
88
|
195
|
0
|
|
February
|
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
March
|
|
37
|
25
|
15
|
0
|
|
April
(upto 14th April)
|
|
35
|
115
|
0
|
0
|
|
Total rainfall from Dec to April (in mm)
|
|
646
|
447
|
399
|
0
|
|
Water level in Dhanikhari dam (in metres) as on 14th
April)
|
|
58.27
|
56.33
|
59.94
|
52.27
|
|
Dead storage level of Dhanikhari dam is 48 metre
& water cannot be
drawn below 48 metres
|
|||||
While the total rainfall during the period
1st December to 14th April, in the last 3 years (2016-17
to 2018-19) was between 399 mm to 646 mm, there was virtually no rainfall at
all from December, 2019 onwards, on account of which the reservoirs could not
get recharged to their optimum level.
Taking the rainfall of previous months into
consideration and factoring in the availability of water in the reservoirs,
once in three day supply was made from 1st March, 2020 and later,
once in 4 day supply was started in PBMC and other areas from 8th
April, 2020, with a view to conserve water and sustain the supply till the
arrival of next monsoon in last week of May, 2020.
The Administration is also augmenting the
water supply by transporting water from
Rutland to Phongibalu, through water barge. Presently, one barge of 200 tonnes
(2 lakh litre) capacity is making 4 trips in a day and transports about 800
tonnes (8 lakh litres) of water to Phongibalu, which is then pumped to
Dhanikhari dam through an already existing pipeline. In another few days, a
second barge will be deployed, which will help to transport an additional 8
lakh litres of water every day for distribution to urban and rural areas.
In addition, water is also being
transported from Hut Bay to Port Blair through DSS vessel M.V. Campbell Bay,
which has a capacity of 500 tonnes (5 lakh litres). The first consignment of
500 tonnes of water by M.V.Campbell Bay reached Port Blair on 14/04/2020 and
the PBMC water tankers are distributing the water to various locations within
municipal area as required. Trips of MV
Campbell Bay would be regularly planned to fetch water from Hut Bay, to
supplement the water supply position in Port Blair.
In order to augment the water sources in
rural areas, the MP along with team of officials consisting of DC, South
Andaman and CE(APWD) visited Ferrargunj Tehsil of South Andaman on 26/02/2020
and suggested construction of check weirs in the nallahs in Herbatabad, Sona
Pahar, Ograbraj, Namunaghar etc. for which estimates are under preparation by
APWD. Development of these water sources will improve the water availability in
these rural villages.
The laying of submarine pipeline between
Rutland and Phongibalu and the commissioning of Rutland Water Supply scheme
will help to overcome the water scarcity problems due to deficient rains, as is
being faced now. In this regard, tender
floated by APWD for laying of submarine pipeline between Rutland and Phongibalu
has evoked good response and the tenders are under evaluation.
While the Administration is making all the
required efforts to augment the water sources and sustain the water supply to
the residents, the general public have also been requested to use the water
judiciously and adopt water conservation measures to tide over the present
water crisis, a press release says.
