Correspondent
Perennial water crisis in the State Capital has hit hard its residents, while repeated droughts in recent times caused by changing weather patterns have resulted in Nagaland becoming water stressed.
Although 14 projects worth Rs 286. 31 crore have been implemented under Kohima Smart City Development Ltd (KSCDL), indicating a lot of progress for the residents, they (residents) primarily want water.
As per a report of Urban Division of PHED, there were around 22,312 pipeline provisions in Kohima with 6005 households having water connection (as in March 2021), while 16,307 did not have access.
The predominant sources of water in the State like surface water in rivers, streams, ponds and tanks are also drying up as groundwater resources come under increasing pressure due to overpopulation and excess consumption. All of these have compounded the water crisis, thereby placing a greater burden on the households who do not have pipe connections.
The water crisis has become so acute that it has also affected standing crops and resulted in poor harvests.
As many farmers are becoming less dependent on rains, this has increased their reliance on nearby water sources as irrigation units; creating massive crisis among the farming community. With Nagaland facing drought-like situation following the delay in arrival of monsoon last year and the State government unable to meet the needs of the public for water supply, the number of water tankers and people selling water has also increased as the demand for water grows every day.
Meanwhile, for many residents in Kohima, groundwater and community water tanks are the main sources of drinking water. However, these sources are also drying up fast.
High School area and the adjoining habitations are the worst hit areas in Kohima where only about 150 households have piped water connectivity. There are about 80 staff looking after the entire pipe connectivity in the town as per the data shared by PHED Urban Division executive engineer Subongyanger.
Raju Thapa, a prominent water supplier in high school and adjoining areas, also known as “Aqua-man”, told Nagaland Post that he had been supplying water to over 50 households for the past two years.
He acknowledged that the water supply business has been flourishing over the years as everybody needed water for survival. On a good day, he said he made around five to six trips and charged Rs 1,300 for 2,000 litres of water, while on other days he barely made one or two trips. He revealed that there were more than 80 water tankers in the State Capital at present.