Shillong is a city which
has often encounters
the problem of water scarcity despite the fact that the rainy season prolong here more than its usual tenure.
The PHE department is the nodal agency for water, and the water is supplied in bulk quantity to the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) which is then distributed to various households in the city.
To keep a tab on the water supplied and to prevent its wastage, the PHE department in the year 2000 had installed bulk water metering systems in various tanks of the city from where the water is supplied to various pockets of the city.
An official of the PHE while talking to this scribe said that the bulk water meter has lot of advantages as every day the department can measure as how much water is being supplied through a particular tank to a locality.
The PHE has so far installed the meter in most of the water tanks located in and around Shillong city like Laban, Laitumkhrah, Mawlai, Nonghtymmai and even other areas.
“If some one claims that they are not receiving water for so many days, we can prove it to them through the meter that how much quantity of water has been supplied to a particular locality from a designated tank,” an official from the PHE said,
The official also said that the PHE is supplying water to the Army Authorities through the water system and they are probably the biggest buyer of the PHE department.
It is learnt that the quantum of water supply in the city has also increased over the few years as presently the department is supplying twenty million gallons of water to Shillong Municipal Board alone on an average day.
Reacting to a query about the scarcity of water which is often reported from different parts of the city, the official said that a large part of water is often wasted through the leakages of distribution pipes in the city.
“We have seen that people have not repaired their water pipes for 10-15 years and when water does not reach their home they immediately blame us,” the official added.
(By Aafaque Hussain)