By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 16: It was a relief that came after a week but lasted all of two hours. Reeling under acute water shortage since December 10, residents were relieved on Tuesday evening when water supply was restored by the PHE Department only to face another outage after another major pipeline leakage was reported in the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme (GSWSS) at 101 Area under Division-I, the same site where the disruption occurred earlier.
Official sources told The Shillong Times that the leakage occurred shortly after water supply restarted on Tuesday afternoon following prolonged shutdown. Repair work was promptly initiated by the PHED. Sources from the department assured that the damaged section will be fixed by late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, and water supply will continue without disruption on Wednesday.
The disruption started on December 10 due to a major pipeline burst in the GSWSS 101 Area under Division-I. The PHED announced a four-day shutdown until December 13, but extended it to December 16 via a DIPR advertisement on the evening of December 14, without prior notice.
On Tuesday, PHE Minister Marcuise N. Marak inspected the pipe burst site along with the Commissioner & Secretary, Joint Secretary, Additional Chief Engineer, and senior PHE officers and engineers.
During the visit, the Minister stated that partial water supply had been restored to zonal reservoirs and assured that full restoration would follow soon. He acknowledged that such infrastructure failures are often unforeseen, commended the round-the-clock efforts of PHE staff working under challenging conditions, and emphasised ongoing measures for early full-capacity restoration.
Nearly the entire city — except areas like Laban, Lumparing, Nongthymmai, and Laitumkhrah — were without piped water, forcing many households, especially economically weaker sections, to rely on expensive private tanker supplies.
Amid public frustration over the crisis, the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) on Tuesday clarified that it cannot provide large-scale emergency water relief during GSWSS shutdowns.
Residents have questioned why SMB tankers could not distribute free water. An SMB official explained to The Shillong Times that the Board’s own water sources are extremely limited and insufficient for widespread distribution.
“The water sources under SMB control are minimal. Even intervening on a large scale is impossible during a GSWSS shutdown,” the official said, adding that the SMB primarily handles distribution while bulk supply is managed by the PHE.
The official noted that targeted relief for BPL families and the likes is impractical due to limited resources, adding that selective supply could cause inequity and further dissatisfaction.
