Meanwhile, police have been deployed along the Kutch Branch Canal (KBC) and scores of pipelines installed by farmers to draw water from the canal have been removed as the SSNNL is trying to fill up the Tappar dam to meet drinking water requirements of the arid Kutch district.
“If the situation continues this way with less rain in the neighbouring state and increasing demand in the rain deficit districts here in Gujarat, we are looking at the possibility of a drinking water crisis in the coming days.
As far as the Kutch Branch Canal (KBC) is concerned, it was after orders from the state government, the SSNNL started discharging water in the KBC from August 4 and officers said that as of Friday, 30 million cubic feet (mcft) water had already been released the Tappar dam near Anjar in Kutch.
SSNNL officers said that therefore they had to take precautionary measures to ensure that water reaches the Tappar dam for drinking purpose.
“While we hope that it will rain in the coming days, we are releasing water in Tappar dam to ensure enough supply of drinking water in Kutch.
Rapar and Lakhpat talukas have received almost no rain so far while Abdasa, Bhachau, Mundra and Nakhatrana have recorded around one inch rain so far.
The district as a whole has received merely 11 per cent of its average rainfall so far.
South Gujarat, which saw maximum rainfall this monsoon, has reported a sowing deficit of 21 per cent and less rainfall by 26 per cent.
Kutch has been worst-affect district in Gujarat, receiving just 11.08 per cent of its average annual rainfall.
This summer, Gujarat went through a severe water crisis when the water level in the Narmada dam reservoir fell below 110 metres – the live storage level, forcing the government to draw dead water through the Irrigation By-Pass Tunnel (IBPT) in February to meet drinking water needs.

PESHAWAR: The speakers at a function stressed the need for launching an awareness-raising campaign at the educational institutions to convince the young generation of the urgency to conserve water to overcome the looming crisis.
“Rivers and underground water resources give the feeling that we can consume water for centuries if handled carefully,” he pointed out.
Talking about the dams situation, Dr Muhammad Amjad Sabir said 25 various sites had been identified for construction of dams, asserting that Pakistan could build from 500 to 600 small dams.
He said the media should give preference to public needs instead of politics and arrange programmes in the light of the very fact.
The speaker said we would face no international hurdles if we constructed dams on the rivers which flow through Pakistan.
Dr Muhammad Amjad Sabir stressed the need for awareness-raising among the young generation on the issue and said we would have to sensitise the students at schools and other educational institutional institutions about conserving water by putting it to a judicious use to meet our needs.
Hamdard Foundation Pakistan President Sadia Rashid urged the participants to launch the struggle for conserving water from own homes and families.
“We should inculcate in our children the habit of saving water by avoiding its unnecessary use,” she stressed.
Shoora-e-Hamdard Speaker Dr Salahuddin said the next elected government should take as a priority the issue of the dwindling water resources.
The talks were followed by a question-answer session.

Pune: Water supply problem has resurfaced in Baner-Balewadi areas, nearly six months after the issue was assumed to have been sorted out.
“There was some improvement in water supply following the directives of the high court.
The citizens in the areas were satisfied with water availability.
But from the past couple of months, water scarcity has resurfaced,” said Balwadkar.
Balwadkar had filed a petition in the high court.
The court in June 2017 had issued restrictions on building permissions and issuance of occupancy certificates.
The petitioner claimed that housing societies in the area had spent around Rs 12 crore in the 2015-16 financial year on water tankers.
The status of water requirement in these areas and current supply position will be checked.
A decision on the demand made by elected members will be taken accordingly,” said a building permission department official.
Download The Times of India news app for your device.

A puppet show set to music, dramatizing Iran’s worsening water crisis, will kick off during an international festival being held in the country later this month.
“Kamancheh, Water and Others,” a play directed by Alireza Nassehi, will be performed with the marotte puppets at the 17th International Mobarak Puppet Festival in Tehran, which runs from August 23-29.
The puppet show will be accompanied by songs from the American jazz artist Louis Armstrong, Azerbaijani musician Alim Qasimov, kamancheh player Keyhan Kalhor and vocalist Shahram Nazeri, who will be reciting a modern-day poem written by Sohrab Sepehri, titled “Don’t Muddy the Water.” The production tells the story of Mr.
Foot, a character who wastes a lot of water while taking a shower but is sent on a journey to find water one day after his shower water was abruptly cut.
The purpose of dramatization is to draw people’s attention to the worsening water crisis and drought in Iran, a Caspian region country that has been struggling with severe water shortages for decades.
Depending on the expert consulted, different reasons are offered for why Iran suffers from so much of a shortage: Reasons cited include climate change, rapid population growth and overuse of water, wasteful agriculture practices, mismanagement, and poor planning.
An estimated 37 million Iranians in a country of 80 million people are said to be living in water-stressed areas.
According to local media reports, protesters took to the streets in Mahshahr city on July 2 to express support for the residents of nearby Khorramshahr, who have been protesting shortages of drinking water over the past days.
With lower water levels within Iranian dams, the country’s ability to generate electricity through its hydropower plants has reached a maximum output of 5,000 MW this summer, far lower than last year’s figure of 9,300 MW, according to IRIB News Agency.
During the protests over the lack of drinking water and power shortages, rumors have swarmed that Iranian water and electricity is being exported to neighboring countries.

During the past four years, the local media has been saturated with reports about how the city will run out of water, and promises to come up with long-term solutions have fallen by the wayside.
Being the capital city of Namibia and housing up to a quarter of the country’s population of 2,4 million, the city relies on NamWater for 70% of its water, while the other 30% comes from surface water and boreholes.
However, due to poor rainfall, NamWater this week reported low water levels at the three dams where Windhoek draws its water from.
According to the report, the three dams supplying the central parts of Namibia – including Windhoek and Okahandja – with water are currently a combined 29,9% full, according to the corporation’s latest weekly dam bulletin.
Amutenya explained that the city has now moved from Category B, which means there was a need to be alert about the low water levels, to Category C, which shows that there is a drought, and water savings need to be increased to 10%.
But all residents, businesses and consumers still need to do their best to keep the situation under control, as “with concerted efforts, we will survive the drought.” “The city is well-known for water recycling through our reclamation plant, and there are also plans to construct a second reclamation plant in the foreseeable future that is expected to augment water supply,” she said, adding that the only effective measure to conserve water now is to use it sparingly.
Speaking to The Namibian on Tuesday, the Popular Democratic Movement’s councillor Ignatius Semba said the city should come up with a long-term solution to the water crisis.
He said the issue of water is not being taken seriously by the city or central government as they keep coming up with solutions which are not implemented, such as the idea of a desalination plant.
Some think it might not help, but it could because restricting people from using water will not help,” he stated.
“Maybe come up with a plan that looks at how many people are allowed to come in and stay in Windhoek per month or year, and thus know what you are dealing with,” Mbai urged.

Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed its grave concern over acute shortage of water in districts of Larkana and Hyderabad division adding that despite availability of sufficient quantity of water in Indus river, the provincial irrigation department has failed to ensure release of water in the system.
HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 7th Aug, 2018 ) :Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed its grave concern over acute shortage of water in districts of Larkana and Hyderabad division adding that despite availability of sufficient quantity of water in Indus river, the provincial irrigation department has failed to ensure release of water in the system.
In a statement, issued on Tuesday, Mahmood Nawaz Shah, Secretary Sindh Abadgar Board stated that Sindh in the past has witnessed water shortages due to lack of water in the river, however, the current situation of widespread water scarcity is unique, unprecedented and difficult to comprehend as today water flowing downstream Kotri and Gudu upstream as 159,000 cusecs showing surplus water in the river.
The flow of water in the river mean that water should be available for the whole irrigation system, but till today it has not been happened resulting to acute shortages in districts of Larkana, Dadu, Qambar Shahdadkot, Badin and Tando Muhammad Khan, he said and added that more than 40 percent of these districts have been affected as a result of acute shortage of water and the farmers are unable to even sow 20 percent of their paddy and seeds in nurseries become more than 40 days old and is rotting because of non transplantation due to lack of water.
The growers who transplanted seed in the hope that water will come are suffering as the plants are dying in the field since there is not water to irrigate, he added.
This shortage is not in the areas where there are chronic issues like tail end areas, this shortage is rather in the areas where water is usually available , he said and added, this is a reflection on the Irrigation Department which is depleting by the day.
The apathy of Irrigation department is damaging the crucial irrigation system of Sindh and badly affecting the livelihood of farmers, he added.
He said, areas of above stated districts are supposed to get full supply of water from May 10th as per official allocation and therefore, the usual harvesting of paddy would otherwise start in September.
This year even in August, growers on large scale are unable to plant, he said.
In addition to this, he informed the growers have planted nurseries the second time, the first time they did in May/June in anticipation of water but that all was damaged as farmers were not able to plant in the fields.

Iran has struggled with chronic drought for over a decade, and it is currently estimated that 97 percent of the country is experiencing drought conditions.
Iran is in the midst of a full-blown water crisis, and the shortages are among the factors leading to widespread unrest in Iranian society.
As reported by ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, protestors blocked the main road leading into the southern Iranian city of Borazjan as part of protests over water scarcity July 22.
This was not the first case of water-related protests turning violent this summer, with violent protests kicking off in Khorramshahr, a city in the southern province of Khuzestan, earlier on July 1.
"No one has been killed in the unrest and just one person has been wounded in a shooting," announced Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli.
Although primarily caused by water shortages in the cities, both the protest in Borazjan and in Khorramshahr have quickly turned to targeting government mismanagement and corruption.
Mohammad Baqir Sa’adat, the Dashtestan representative to the parliament, was reported to have said, “The people’s anger is justified.
This highlights the immense challenges for Iranian farmers and, indeed, the government, which seeks to make Iran self-sufficient in its agricultural production.
Due to both crippling heat and inefficient irrigation, the wetlands in the eastern and southeastern parts of Iran have largely dried up, with some estimates stating that 60 out of total 105 have completely dried out.
Considering the ongoing issues with corruption amongst officials and inefficient infrastructural planning, it can only be expected that these problems will continue.

Project Hope, a Ghanaian -based NGO has inaugurated a $ 5,000 community water project for the people of Nweneso in the Atwima Kwanwoma district, in the Ashanti Region.
The project, which was funded by Frankthobes Cornell Tradition Endowment of the United States of America, will help supply about 6000 litres of potable water daily to the people.
Mr. Osei Kwadwo Boateng, founder of Project Hope, who inaugurated the project said the aim was to help provide uninterrupted water supply to the community to reduce the incidence of water borne diseases in the area.
He said the target of his organisation was to reach out to over one million Ghanaians with potable water within the next five years.
Mr Boateng, who is also a student of the Cornell University in the USA, stressed the need for Ghanaians to help protect water bodies for sustainable water supply for domestic and agricultural use.
He also entreated Ghanaians to join hands in the fight against environmental degradation by supporting the government’s efforts to fight illegal mining activities in the country.
Mr Boateng appealed to traditional leaders to desist from selling out lands near water bodies to estate developers at the disadvantage of their people.
He said his organisation was determined to work hard towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Six, which aims to substantially increase water use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity and support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management by 2030.
She advised the people in the community to help maintain the facility to prolong its lifespan.
Submit your publications to editor@modernghana.com

In 2017, Cape Town’s Responsible Tourism agency distributed dark blue signs reading “Don’t Waste A Drop!” at the city’s airport and in certain hotels.
“[The problem] has to do with understanding the value of natural systems,” Sandford said.
Most city water management systems worldwide require collaboration between local and state governments.
Only at the peak of a severe drought in Connecticut in 2016, Kirchhoff said, did the state’s officials realized its infrastructure wasn’t prepared for such a weather event.
But what about all of the cities and states that have never dealt with natural floods and droughts, that are keeping climate change on the backburner?
When the area was first settled in the 1400s, water management was the very first system of governance, and the rest of its political structure emerged from these water boards.
Twenty-two water boards manage, control, and plan water management practices across the country.
In an area as large as the U.S., successful water management has to involve sharing money, data, and resources between federal and local governments.
If all water management is on a local level, then it’s very difficult to understand the body of water as a whole and plan for long-term changes that are a result of climate change.
But [with climate change], I still think though that there’s not enough consideration.”

The scarcity of potable water in various parts of Udalguri has raised many eyebrows, particularly in the Udalguri Legislative Assembly Constituency, which is represented by State Public Health Engineering, Co-operation Minister Rihon Daimari.
The villagers of Sopon Gaon in Udalguri district have been facing acute shortage of potable drinking water since the Dhansiri Valley-3 water supply project under Tangla PHE division has been lying defunct for the last more than a week.
The helpless villagers’ plea for restoring the project went to the deaf ears of the PHE officials owing to which the people have to fetch water from water bodies like river and pond in the area.
It was finally at the clarion call of the village headman, the personnel of 61 Bn Sasathra Seema Bal(SSB) have come forward to the rescue of the villagers.
The troops of the 61 Bn SSB carried water tankers from door to door to provide the much-needed succour to the delight of villagers on Sunday.
The people of the village fetched water in buckets and water pots and expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the SSB personnel for their humanitarian service.
The inefficiency of the Tangla PHE officials to restore the water supply project has been largely resented by the villagers.
The locals have exhorted the minister concerned and their MLA, Rihon Daimari, to restore the water supply project at the earliest.