Himachal Pradesh's capital Shimla has come under the grips of a water crisis as days of heavy rainfall has damaged the water supply schemes and has caused the silt to accumulate in water resources.
As a result, at the supply of water fell to less than a third and authorities said it could three to four days for the situation to normalise.
Himachal is currently witnessing heavy rainfall that have caused widespread damage across the state. Bridges have been washed away by raging rivers, roads and railway tracks have been damaged, and over 15 people have been killed across the state.
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The Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL) officials told PTI that the city received 11.03 mld (million litre per day) on Monday against the average 42-45 mld. They further said it would take three to four days for the water supply to get normalised as flooding has hampered the supply operations.
"Water is supplied to Shimla from six sources -- Gumma, Giri, Churot, Seog, Chairh and Koti Brandi -- and the supply from Gumma and five other sources was 7.82 mld and 3.21 mld, respectively," reported PTI.
This month, Himachal has received 69 per cent excess rainfall. The PTI reported that the state received 271.5 mm of rainfall during the monsoon season from July 1 to July 9 against the normal rainfall of 160.6 mm.
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Talking to PTI, the officials said Chaba pumping station has been damaged, while Nautikhad has been flooded and only one pump is working at the Gumma station.
"Although the turbidity in Giri has come down from 9,700 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (ntu) to 7,400 ntu, there is no mechanism to deal with turbidity over 2,000-25,00 ntu, they said, adding that transmitting pipes have also been damaged at several places due to the downpour," reported PTI.
SJPNL Spokesperson Sahil Sharma urged Shimla residents to utilise water judiciously and use rainwater for non-drinking purposes. He also advised them to use water in storage tanks for drinking.
