What led to the water crisis?
The Himachal Pradesh High Court, Thakkar said, put a blanket ban on use of water from springs around Shimla after unclean water from a sewage treatment plant contaminated the streams, resulting in an outbreak of jaundice that affected more than 500 people in the city.
Sludge from a treatment plant at Malyana, which had a faulty sewage treatment system, was flowing into the Ashwani Khad.
An Indian Express report from 2016 pointed out that since major reservoirs were not being used, Shimla was heading for a crisis.
The increasing population isn’t the only reason to blame for the present crisis.While the government had planned to set up a committee, under the chief secretary, 3 years ago, to get a loan from the World Bank which would finance lifting of 104 MLD of Sutlej water from the Kol Dam, such a committee has not been set up.
They must ensure that sewage does not get mixed with water through decentralised sewage treatment plants," he said.
Delhi too is may face water shortage soon.
He said while the government promotes rainwater harvesting, "how many government buildings have rainwater harvesting facilities in Delhi?"
According to Thakkar 85% of India’s irrigation water, 55% of urban water and nearly 50% of industrial water comes from India’s ground water reserves and that India is the largest user of ground water reserves in the world.
The government must come up with the policy to sustain ground water levels that are running low across the country.