Helpless hoteliers advising tourists to postpone visit to Shimla.
It’s more than rationing this time as the locals are currently getting water after a week or not even after that, driving many of them out of Shimla till the situation eases.
While tourists are still coming here, for the first time, the helpless hoteliers have to politely advise their most awaited guests not to visit Shimla till the water scarcity persists.
“The hotels are not provided tankers by civic body as per court order two years back.
So we have to buy private tankers to fulfil requirement in scarcity.
For many years now, Shimla residents have not got a daily water supply.
The situation over last week however acquired alarming proportions with people coming out on streets, keeping the government on toes, so much that Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur is personally monitoring the water supply situation.
In Shimla, even as management of water distribution has always been an issue, the water crisis is not something that occurred in just one year.
Supply from Ashwani Khadd water supply scheme, which catered to one third of the city in lower parts, had to be scrapped two years back, after the worst ever outbreak of jaundice, which had reportedly claimed 30 lives.
While water is always a political issue in Shimla, no government has so far thought of checking unabated concrete growth in the city, augment existing schemes as per demand of growing population or protect the catchment areas of water sources for continuous supply.

New measures to facilitate non-potable wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation will alleviate water scarcity concerns, the European Commission has announced.
The new regulations allowing non-potable wastewater reuse will create a sustainable supply of water for agricultural irrigation, while also protecting the environment and consumers, and avoiding the ongoing concerns posed by water scarcity.
Because of changing weather conditions, global warming and other factors, water scarcity is a growing concern, particularly affected by unpredictable weather patterns and severe droughts.
Further, one third of land in the EU is affected by water stress all year round, meaning that demand outpaces supply.
The commission estimates that water reuse in the EU today is far below its potential, despite being more cost-efficient and causing less environmental impact than extracting and transporting fresh water.
What measures have been proposed?
How will the proposal impact the EU water sector?
European Commissioner for the Environment, Karmenu Vella, hailed the new commission proposal as a vital effort to reduce the environmental consequences caused by the water industry in Europe.
Vella said: “This proposal will create only winners – our farmers will have access to a sustainable supply for irrigation water, our consumers will know the products they eat are safe, and our businesses will see new opportunities.
The biggest winner of them all will be our environment as the proposal contributes to better management of our most precious resource – water.”

Himachal Bhanu P Lohumi Shimla, May 29 The prestigious Shimla Summer Festival, a major tourist attraction during the summers and accorded status of International festival, has been postponed indefinitely due to acute water shortage in the state capital.
The five-day festival was scheduled to be held from June 1 to 5 but the Shimla district administration which organises the festival in coordination with department of Tourism, Art and Culture and Public Relations has postponed the festival saying that the town is facing severe water shortage and the decision has been taken on humanitarian grounds.
Further, the key officers entrusted the responsibility to organise the festival are engaged in “normalising the water supply situation” and under such circumstances it is neither prudent nor appropriate to organise the festival, a spokesman of district administration said.
Earlier it used to be a district-level festival but in course of time it was declared a state-level festival and later declared an International festival.
The duration of the festival used to be fifteen days but it had been gradually curtailed and reduced to five days.
Singers such as Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Pankaj Udas, Jagjit Singh, Gurdas Mann, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan have performed in the festival which also gives platform to local talent from various districts of the state.
The festival was cancelled in 1970 due to a 35-day long agitation by non-gazetted employees and in 1977 due to assembly polls while on several occasions, programmes were washed due to heavy rains.
The local people heaved a sigh a relief following postponement of the festival.
Due to scorching sun, perennial water sources have dried and only 18.5 mld of water was available against requirement of 45 mld.

Water shortage during the early part of the Kharif season has risen to an alarming 45 percent from initial projections of 32 percent against average uses.
LAHORE: Due to chronic water shortage of 45 percent, Punjab has been compelled to dissuade farmers from the planting of sugarcane and other water-intensive crops.
This was revealed by officials on Monday and sugarcane crop compared to cotton requires two times more water for growing, reported The News.
The official added farmers were being advised to plant those crops which consumed less water in ongoing Kharif season.
And farmers in South Punjab have been directed to not plant sugarcane this year and whilst its cultivation was being dissuaded in rest of the provinces due to water shortage problems.
The official shared cultivable area under sugarcane could be decreased due to the country possessing surplus stocks of sugar.
He counselled the farmers to consider growing cotton in South Punjab as it consumes less amount of water.
And water scarcity has grown in the ongoing Kharif season, as the shortage during the early part of the season has risen to an alarming 45 percent from initial projections of 32 percent against average uses.
The irrigation official stated because of low river flows, water was being utilized from Mangla Dam for augmenting the fall in River Jhelum flow, whilst Tarbela Dam was about to hit dead level.
He added there was an effort to ensure prudent use of water from Mangla Dam for securing minimum supplies at Tarimmu Head and Panjnad Barrage since there wasn’t any additional water available from Indus Zone.

In a bid to earn brownie points by highlighting the issue of water scarcity in Jaipur, Congress on Monday protested against the BJP government in the state and threatened that unless water was restored to residential societies within the next 24 hours, they would disconnect the supply to the CM and her ministers’ home.
The protest was led by Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot near the Pani Pench Tri Junction.
In their protest, they also broke earthen pots while agitating.
Accusing the state government of being negligent, Pilot said that the contingency plan to meet the drinking water demands is the responsibility of the government.
He further slammed the Raje government for its poor planning to combat the water crisis.
“Neither have the trips of the water tankers increased, nor has the supply of water from Bisalpur Dam.
Even additional budget to meet the crisis hasn’t been approved by the government.
On Monday, the Congress protested in Jaipur by breaking earthen pots, but if the water demands are not met with additional budget allocation, then Congress will protest across the state,” warned Pilot.
“We will disconnect water connections in ministers’ and CM’s residence if the water supply is not restored in the next 24 hours.
The water supply is being provided to the ministers round the clock, while residents are getting water only for 10-15 minutes,” alleged Khachariyawas.

Patnagarh: Water is a perennially scare substance in Pandaripani village under Patnagarh block in Bolangir district.
Now, with the mercury levels soaring with each day, water is almost non-existent here and residents are yearning for this most important substance.
Comprising of 550 tribals, around 110 families dwell in this village that is located just 25 km from the block office.
While four tube-wells were sunk to meet the water requirements of the tribals in the village, two are lying defunct, while the other two release water contaminated with fluoride, which is not fit for consumption.
Locals asserted that the administration was doing little to ameliorate the sufferings of the people here.
Left with no other option, the tribals have dug pits from where they extract water, which is filtered using a cloth and, subsequently, use it for drinking purpose.
Moreover, the contaminated water is responsible for the spread of various diseases in the village.
Except for hollow assurances, the villagers have got nothing so far.
With the onset of summer every year, tribals here experience water scarcity.
Ironically, the local authorities feign ignorance about the water woes of the tribals.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel observed that the issue whether the holding capacity is sufficient enough to cater to needs of residents ‘Queen of Hills’, needs to be addressed.
Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday directed the state government to improve upon water holding capacity to cater for the needs of ever growing urban population of tourist town Shimla.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel observed that the issue whether the holding capacity is sufficient enough to cater to needs of residents ‘Queen of Hills’, needs to be addressed.
The court passed these orders on a petition on the problem of acute water shortage in Shimla wherein some areas are getting water supply after as many as eight days.
The court was informed the highest authority is already seized of the matter and appropriate steps are being taken for immediately redressing the problem.
“We are fully in agreement with the submissions made by the Advocate General that long term solution to the problem can be found with the construction of check dams and reservoirs where water can be stored for longer period of time and utilised at the time of water scarcity in summers,” the court observed.
The court noted the problem of water scarcity within Shimla town as highlighted brings forth another issues as to whether any new construction should be allowed to come up in Shimla municipal limits at all or not as the tourist town doesn’t have its own perennial source of water.
The court had posted the matter for hearing on 29 May.

BENGALURU: Despite rain water harvesting (RWH) made mandatory in houses and commercial establishment and fines imposed every month, 58,658 buildings in the City have not bothered to put these structures in place.The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has collected over `20 crore as fine ever since the levy of penalty for non-compliance commenced in August 2016.
“As per our assessment, a total of 1,54,328 buildings in the City must install RWH.
Out of these, 95,670 buildings have installed them so far.
We had levied around `28 crore penalty and the amount paid so far by defaulters is over `20 crore.
In case of houses, 50% of the bill amount on water and sanitary charges is levied while the penalty is 100% of the bill amount in the case of commercial buildings.
“In case of non-payment of the fines too, an interest rate of 1.66% on the RWH penalty levied would be charged,” he added.
These fines are reflected in the monthly water bills.
The cost of installation of these structures ranges between `5,000 and `50,000 depending on the dimensions of the building and the size of the structures created.
What you should know All new buildings which are 30×40 sqft and above and old buildings which are 40×60 sqft and above need to install these structures.
BWSSB has collected D20 crore as fine ever since the levy of penalty for non-compliance commenced in August 2016.

CHANDIGARH: Scarcity of potable and muddy supply in some parts of the city remained the main point of discussion during the monthly house meeting of the municipal corporation on Thursday.
Councillor Devinder Singh Babla said, “In most of my ward, water is not available and situation has reached a point that I have to pay for private tankers.” Councillors Chandrawati Shukla and Dilip Sharma complained of contaminated and muddy water supply in their respective areas.
They said the residents were not getting adequate supply and whatever they were getting was muddy, which was adding to their woes.
Councillor Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu said since the demand for potable water increases in summer, the authorities must focus on tertiary treated water, which the residents can use for irrigation and other non-potable uses.
At present, potable water was being used for other purposes, which was leading to shortage, he added.
“The residents have been complaining that there is foul smell in the tertiary treated water and therefore despite taking its connections, they are not using it,” Sidhu said.
Councillors said not only on the top floors, water was not available at the ground floors too.
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Himachal Vijay Arora Shimla, May 25 Expressing concern on the issue of water scarcity in the state, the HP High Court on Friday directed the Assistant Solicitor General of India to file an affidavit indicating the status of water augmentation schemes which are presently pending with the Union Government.
The court passed this order after perusing the affidavit filed by the Engineer-in-Chief, IPH, informing the court about the schemes and the proposals that had already been submitted with the Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation regarding Remodelling/Renovation of Old Rural Water Supply Schemes of Himachal Pradesh.
He further informed that the estimate of this proposal is approximately 798 crores and the state has sought financial assistance from the Central Water Ministry for implementing this project.
While perusing the affidavit filed by the Engineer-in-Chief the bench observed, “It is evidently clear that at least with respect to three districts i.e., Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi, the situation with regard to supply of potable drinking water to the habitations is highly inadequate.
The position with regard to other districts is also not very happy and the position is best highlighted in the affidavit.” The court further observed, “State is blessed with many perennial rivers like Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chinav, Pabar, Chander and Bhaga etc.
As much as 90 per cent of the state population lives in rural areas.
Its population is approximately 70 lakhs.
Even after more than 70 years of independence not even 50 per cent of 53,604 habitations so identified by the Irrigation and Public Health Department stand provided adequate potable water.” It further observed, “It cannot be said that per se there is paucity of water in the state.
However, perhaps, paucity of will to provide adequate potable water to the residents of the state is there as far as the administration is concerned.
Otherwise, in our considered view, there can be no cogent justification as to why till date 50 per cent of the habitations in the state of Himachal Pradesh are not fully covered for the purposes of providing adequate potable water to the residents.”