IMPHAL: Manipur has been experiencing acute shortage of water due to the drastic depletion of its water sources, according to people familiar with the matter.
Residents in most of the places across the state depend on private water supply operators for their water requirement. Most of the major rivers which pass through Imphal valley have also dried up except for a few sections. As a result, some of the government water plants stopped functioning along the Imphal river, a key water feeder for water supply plants.
Imphal, Iril, Kongba and Nambul are major rivers in Imphal area. In places like Ukhrul district headquarters,84 km northeast of Imphal, people buy potable water at exorbitant rates for their daily use due to depletion of water source at Shirui mountain ranges.
As a result the entire population of Ukhrul and Hundung are going through harrowing experiences without potable water.
Like Ukhrul and other hill towns, there are also reports of acute shortage of drinking water across the state following the drying up of the state's major rivers which feed nearly two dozen water supply plants in the state capital due to the depletion of the natural springs and water sources at the catchment areas.
Except for a few sections of Iril river, almost all major rivers of the state namely Imphal, Kongba and Nambol have dried up due to various factors.
Meanwhile on March 16, Minister for Water Resources and Relief and Disaster Management, Awangbow Newmai inspected the dry state of Singda Dam (water reservoir).During the visit, the Minister accompanied by Chief Engineer Remmei Alimmei of Water resources and officials checked the fencing works of the catchment area that was taken up at the site.
We need to save Singda because Singda water is supplied to half of the Imphal area,” the minister said. The minister came for the inspection in order to find out a solution in connection with the current situation of acute water shortage.