TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The city zoo which has been grappling with water scarcity for the past few days has finally been able to breathe easy.
The water supply which was partially hit for close to two and a half days, has been restored.
“By Monday night we were able to get water.
The past two days were extremely taxing for us.
Had they at least provided water in the night, we would have been able to tide over the situation.
Now everything is back to normalcy,” says Zoo superintendent T V Anil Kumar.
The pipeline which feeds the zoo store, canteen and which supplies drinking water to the enclosures of the monkeys was hit.
Although water has started coming in, the Kerala Water Authority has said that the issue has not been sorted out completely.
We are still working on it and have not been able to identify the cause.
We have observed a shortage in one of the lines and a team of four are working on resolving it,” says superintending engineer Suresh Chandran.

MAPUSA: Tension prevailed in Mapusa on Tuesday as residents of the town took to the street and resorted to a morcha, upset over acute water shortage since the last six days.
Following no water supply during the ongoing Ganesh Chaturthi festival, angry residents of Mapusa marched to the water supply division of public works department or PWD demanding that water supply be restored immediately.
The residents gheraoed water supply engineer and subsequently blocked the road in front of the PWD.
With taps running dry in the midst of the festive season, people have been severely inconvenienced.
The residents questioned assistant engineer Subhash Belgaonkar about the water shortage and when the supply would be regularised.
Subsequently, calls were made to a senior officer by the assistant engineer but it proved futile as there was no response.
After waiting in the office for almost an hour, the agitators later decided to block the main road in front of the PWD office.
Police inspector Tushar Lotlikar and some local leaders convinced the assistant engineer to provide an assurance to the agitators to release water.
Belgaonkar later said that water supply to one part of the town will be regularised by evening while another part of the town will be supplied water by Wednesday morning following which the residents cleared the road.
“We will stop water supply to other areas and provide water to Mapusa residents, as they have not received water for almost a week,” Belgaonkar said.

For more than 48 hours, the zoo has been partially facing a water supply crisis.
The pipeline which feeds the zoo store, canteen and supplies drinking water to the enclosures of the monkeys have also been hit.
“With the temperatures soaring, the shortage of water has aggravated the situation.
Animals require more water and the water evaporation rate is also high.
For two days, we can adjust with water from other locations in the zoo but this cannot be the norm,” says Zoo superintendent T V Anil Kumar.
This pipeline is also used to provide drinking water for the visitors.
On a daily basis, the zoo requires more than one lakh litres of drinking water.
All the food for the animals are prepared at the zoo store.
We are trying to tide over this with the alternative arrangements.
“Unless the water supply in the pipeline is restored at the earliest, the functioning will be hit,” he says.

They heard about the lessons that had been learnt from Cape Town’s water crisis, which at its height generated bristling tension, and the mining industry, which has at times been in conflict with the community about the way in which water is managed.
At a board level, January-Bardill added, a shift is also under way.
In turn, donors are also increasingly aware that disputes and grievances over natural resources and the way they are managed can exacerbate social tensions.
An increase in waterborne disease is known to become a problem during times of water scarcity, and the city had to guard against this.
Looking back at history, she said, one of the most radical shifts in engineering had been the development of steel and concrete.
We need to consider a crucial difference between infrastructure focused on short-term, human-centred objectives and immediate levels of growth and providing water and sanitation for all, and what aims for longer-term sustainability.” Strang said bringing people together to solve problems in the water space was key.
Africa-centred solutions She also commended Future Water for involving a range of different disciplines in its work on water, as she believed this was the path towards a more sustainable future.
Increasingly, universities need to show they are making a difference in society, she said.
“Research is a very costly exercise and we need to be able to justify and demonstrate what has been achieved.” “University management, funders, research partners and city councils want to see the impact of what you are doing.
Future Water projects have been a vibrant hub of activity over the past two years, with researchers working with the government, industry and other partners in projects in water catchments and other areas.

Nellore: Severe water shortage to hit the annual roti festival which is slated to be held from September 21.
Thanks to rains, the deficit rainfall reduced to 43.5 per cent from 54.5 per cent due to thunderstorms for couple of days.
The officials are now planning to obtain permission from the government for releasing water from Somasila Reservoir to Swarnala Cheruvu for managing the five-day festival.
Nellore district is facing severe shortage of rainfall after Kadapa district with 54.5 per cent deficit rainfall.
District Collector, who reviewed the situation on Monday, asked the officials to fill the tanks with water released from Somasila Reservoir for managing the festival without any difficulty to the devotees.
Development works with Rs 70 lakh at Bara Shaheed Dargah have already been taken up.
Cement Concrete roads and footpaths have been laid and CCTV cameras were installed close to Dargah.
Normally, devotees across the country visit the Dargah every year to offer and accept rotis as part of festival and the state government also declared as official festival from 2015 allocating necessary funds for organising it.
Devotees, whose wishes were fulfilled, visit the Dargah again to offer rotis to other people, who need them as a matter of thanksgiving.
Another obstacle for the festival is protests of the sanitation workers which would turn devastating during five days as the garbage likely to be piled up at Dargah and Tank premises leading to communicable diseases.

Chennai: With threat of water scarcity looming large in parts of the city where there is no piped-water supply, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) officials are yet to decide on increasing the number of water tankers.
Residents have urged the metro water board to increase supply of drinking water.
Sources said several areas in the city face drinking water shortage and people, holding pots, are found waiting for tanker lorries.
At present, the CMWSSB is operating more than 700 contractual lorries across the city.
Going by the present scenario, the number of tankers is not enough to meet the growing demand for drinking water.
“We are spending sleepless nights and we need to wait for even two to three days to get water.
Unlike in the past, water tankers are not properly operated during day time.
Similarly, another resident said, “We are sometimes forced to buy water.
Before onset of monsoon, drinking water is always in demand and we will give priority to those who book online for water.” When contacted, a metro water senior official told DC, “As of now, there is no acute water scarcity and we do not plan to increase the fleet of tankers.
We supply 630 MLD of water and have enough storage in lakes with other sources from Veeranam lake and two desalination plants.”

Higher Education Commission (HEC) is going to propose setting up a task force to deal with the challenge of water scarcity in Balochistan.
The decision will be taken after a meeting between a high-level HEC team headed by Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri and Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan.
This was stated by Dr Tariq Banuri, Chairman, HEC while chairing a meeting on academia’s role in addressing water crisis in Balochistan at the Commission Secretariat.
The meeting aimed at contemplating on the prevailing scenario, challenges and future opportunities regarding ground water recharge, water reservoirs, water usage efficiency, clean drinking water and water resource management.
He said Mr. Jam Kamal Khan, Chief Minister, Balochistan places high priority on addressing the issue.
He He added that the HEC and universities need to come forward to present a joint plan of action for solution to the issue.
It was decided in the meeting that the HEC will propose to the Government of Balochistan to set up a Task Force, assisted by a technical committee, to help resolve the issue.
The meeting participants agreed that the Task Force will comprise Vice Chancellors and representatives of Centres of Excellence and Advanced Studies in water.
They suggested that the Task Force must develop Terms of Reference (ToRs) based on modalities and feasibility of the plan, while the technical committee must undertake research and identify the areas that require attention.
They also emphasised the need for capacity building of organisations and centres working on water resource management.

A Chinese company has discovered a natural water source in Kajiado with a capacity to supply over 1700 cubic metres per hour.
The water, which began to ooze from an underground aquifer three months ago, has already formed a stream stretching 100km downstream.
The area has no seasonal rivers and access to water has been a major challenge.
Purified and supplied China Communication Construction Company Deputy General Manager Guo Ging now says his company will build two 800-cubic-metre-capacity tanks that will act as storage for the water which will then be purified and supplied to homes.
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Residents say the water source is a miracle and a blessing to many.
“We have been surviving on limited water supply or digging deep in our pockets to get water at an additional price.
“The water has already been directed to the community Oloshoibor Mega Dam for distribution and local consumption.
“Livestock community troughs will be put up along the water stream to aid locals,” Lenku said.

A recent report by WaterAid states that India has the lowest access to clean drinking water – close to 163 million Indians are said to be suffering from this scarcity.
Swajal Water ATM Swajal Water ATM is a nine-stage solar purification system, with IoT-based cloud monitoring platform for maintenance.
Other than installing water systems, Gurugram-based Swajal conducts school programmes to increase awareness on water issues.
According to its website, Swajal Water ATMs has provided 28,000 litres of clean drinking water till date to more than 40 schools, covering close to 35,000 children.
Piramal Sarvajal Founded in 2008 by Anand Shah, Sarvajal is a social enterprise that claims to provide clean drinking water through solar-powered, cloud-connected water ATMs in underserved areas.
Sarvajal provides community solutions that can be operated locally by the people in the area.
The machine is priced at Rs 2 lakh per unit online.
With an annual turnover of Rs two to five crore, WAAH employs around 100 people.
The purifier is installed at the user’s location and they can recharge or buy water credits online through mobile and web application.
Though we have observed that 15 -20 litres per day is consumed by a household, users can consume as many litres of water from the device without having to worry about its maintenance for a lifetime.” As of March 2018, the startup had 9,000 users.

Pulwama, Sep 14: Residents of Rahmoo village in Pulwama district of south Kashmir held a protest demonstration on Friday over scarcity of water in the area.
The locals alleged that the PHE authorities are not paying any heed towards the issue of water scarcity in their area.
Protesters blocked the main road leading towards district headquarter Pulwama and stopped school buses, passenger vehicles and many other vehicles to register their protest against the authorities.
One of the protesters told Kashmir Images that we have already brought the issue in the notice of PHE authorities several times but they have always made false promises of resolving the issue of water scarcity.
When contacted concerned JE Bashir Ahmad, he said, “We have taken the note of this issue and within 2 days, the water pipes will be installed in the village”.
“Rest of the village is being provided the water facility as per the daily schedule,” he added.
Related Pulwama, 30 March: Residents of Rakh Village in district Pulwama are up in arms against Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for failing to provide adequate water supply to their village.
The residents here complained that despite repeated pleas, PHE department continues to remain indifferent towards the issue of water shortage… Budgam, July 27: Dozens of residents of Budgam’s model village, Mahwara, staged a protest on Friday against the district administration and Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for failing to provide drinking water facility here.
Raising slogans against the concerned authorities, the protesters blocked Budgam-Beerwah road outside the residence of President… Budgam: Raising slogans against district administration for failing to provide drinking water, dozens of women in Udroo village of Budgam held a strong protests outside Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Saturday.
Protesters said that they are without drinking water from the past 30 days, while as the administration and Public…