Local residents allege Nitta Gelatin India Limited is still discharging effluents into the river.
Kochi: Several panchayats and municipalities in Thrissur and Ernakulam districts which are dependent on water from Chalakudy River are reeling under acute water scarcity due to the increasing level of pollution in the river.
The water-rich rural areas have now become parched as the river water is unusable due to pollution.
Local residents allege that despite a series of protests, Nitta Gelatin India Limited at Kathikudam, the company which is allegedly polluting the river, is still discharging effluents into the river.
More than 12 lakhs of people in two districts are solely dependent on the river for drinking water and irrigation.
In the wake of widespread complaints against Nitta Gelatin discharging effluents into the river, the chief minister’s scientific advisor M. Chandra Dathan recently held an evidence collection sitting at Annamanada, near Mala.
People’s representatives, political parties’ representatives, officials of Nitta Gelatin and local residents urged the scientific advisor to take immediate measures for pollution control.
There was no need for a new study as several studies had already been undertaken, they said.
The possibility of using the waste water from the company for irrigation after treating it should be probed, they demanded.
Chalakudy river is facing a slow death,” said M.P Shajan, former panchayat member.

BARGARH : Carrying buckets and containers, hundreds of women in Bargarh Municipality and block areas took out a ‘Pani Padayatra’ demanding clean and safe drinking water on Monday.Displaying samples of unclean water, the women demanded that all water bodies in the area should be restored and revived to maintain the groundwater level.
Besides, an anicut should be constructed across Jeera river, they said.
The town is reeling under acute water scarcity as piped water is yet to reach all the places.
The womenfolk depend on a few functioning tube-wells in the area.
The agitating women said residents of Ward 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Municipality are completely dependent on a pit dug on the bed of Jeera river which flows along Bargarh town.Gulapi Suna of Ward 11 said the water from tube-wells in the area is unfit for human consumption and is reddish in colour.
Similarly, residents of Ward 5 and 6 claimed that they are being forced to dig tube-wells for drinking water.The district administration should take immediate steps to provide drinking water to the residents soon.
If the demand is not met, they will intensify their stir, the women threatened.

By Jack Lapauve Jr – EMTV News, Port Moresby Communities in North Fly District of Western Province are in dire need of clean water.
They expressed their concerns to Emergency Disaster Coordination Controller, Dr William Hamblin in a recent visit.
Mark John is a teacher at Nomad Primary School.
He said the water has changed color since the earthquake a month ago.
Despite this, the school has continued.
It’s a similar scenario for communities in the Strickland areas further North.
Controller Hamblin says his office will organize for water tanks for the affected communities.
He says food supplies will also come with water containers.
North Fly MP, James Donald, who accompanied Dr. Hamblin, said authorities will work together to assist those affected communities.
Meanwhile, the North Fly District presented a situation report to Controller Dr William Hamblin.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With summer peaking and water bodies drying up, the coastal belt from Poonthura to Pozhiyoor is facing an acute water shortage.
The situation at Vizhinjam is such that the residents have to depend on private water tankers to quench their thirst.
“Everyday, the residents have to stand on long queues to collect water from the private parties, who are exploiting our situation.
The situation is no different at Poonthura, Pozhiyoor and Valiyathura.
Moreover, the government promise to supply water in tankers has also not been fulfilled yet,” Dolly said.
He added regular water supply, however, has not been restored yet.
‘No information on scarcity’ District Panchayat president V K Madhu said the water supply through the tanker lorries had not begun as they are yet to receive any information regarding water scarcity in the coastal areas.
The district panchayat has also started implementing the Rs 200 crore ‘Jalasaree’ project to restore old ponds and water bodies and dig new ones.
“It is true that the coastal areas have issues.
However, I will check with the authorities and will do my best to ensure a regular water supply”, Shainamol said.

The leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta will raise the issue of water shortage when the House convenes on Monday.
“The opposition will raise the issue of government’s apathetic approach towards acute water scarcity in the Assembly session,” said Gupta on Sunday.
He cautioned the Delhi government against turning a deaf ear to the plight of the citizens regarding water crisis.
Gupta stated that a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem in the coming summer or a roadmap to increase water supply should have been in place by now.
However, a “negligent government” in the Capital has been acting as a mute spectator to the growing predicament.
Gupta said, “on one hand a serious water deficit is causing hardships while on the other, due to supply of polluted water, people are getting afflicted with water-borne diseases such as jaundice and cholera.
It is deplorable that at many places supply of drinking water is getting contaminated with sewage water.” He further said that the tragic death of a senior citizen during an altercation due to water shortage in Wazirpur had failed to awaken the government from its slumber.
He also pointed out that the scheme launched in March 2016 in which it was promised that more than one dozen colonies will be provided 24 hours water supply on a pilot project basis, has been put in a cold storage, even though Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is serving as the chairman of Delhi Jal Board.
Listing out issues concerning water, Gupta has said that a water treatment plant had become defunct due to malfunctioning and half of the water supplied through pipelines was getting diverted or lost due to leakage in old pipelines.
He demanded that the Delhi Government issue a white paper on water shortage in Delhi at the earliest and take steps to provide relief to the people crying out for clean water, which is a right of every citizen.

JHARSUGUDA: AT least 76 tribal families of Jampara village in Goudmal panchayat of the district are reeling under acute drinking water crisis as there is no water supply even 70 years after Independence.
The schemes launched by both the Central and the State governments have failed to quench the thirst of tribals.
During every election, villagers hope that their long wait for water supply will end, but it has not happened even after seven decades of Independence.
“Time and again, political leaders make false promises during the elections and close their eyes once they are elected to Parliament or Assembly,” said villager Purna Munda (79).
The village also continues to be deprived of basic facilities such as school, all- weather road and electricity.
There is also no anganwadi centre for children under ICDS programme in the village, said 57-year-old Savitri Oram.
An NGO official said, “Government assistance is not being provided to the village under any schemes.
Although there is a panchayat office, no development work has been undertaken in the village.
The underground pipe of the village tube-well has been damaged after laying of a railway line of MCL and no step has been taken to repair it.
Villagers are languishing due to acute water scarcity as the authorities concerned are yet to supply water to Jampara.”Contacted, Sarpanch of Goudmal panchayat Magsir Khadia said, “Since long, we have been apprising the district authorities about our problems, but the officials provide only lip service to our demands.”

History provides us with many examples of cities and countries facing challenges to securing stable and reliable fresh water supplies.
Recent crises in Cape Town, South Africa and Rome, Italy provided a backdrop and served as a reminder of the urgency with which water resilience is needed.
A new World Bank report illuminates such valuable experiences to fill this important knowledge gap about the failures, successes, and innovative solutions of water scarce cities across the world.
The report provides a cross-case analysis that dives into knowledge from over 20 case studies (to be published soon), to compare and contrast water resource challenges, technical solutions, and institutional mechanisms.
In so doing, the report creates new knowledge and identifies the key drivers of positive change — including how governance, capacity, or technological changes were addressed.
Through a review of some of the cities and states already beating water scarcity odds, the report encourages water scarce cities to adopt urban water scarcity management approaches that include: Demand management and infrastructure efficiency Innovative surface and groundwater management Non-conventional water resources Cooperation with other users Adaptive water system designs and operations Water scarce cities solutions do not have to be high-tech, expensive, or complex.
However, solutions must work – and even better if solutions work together.
This report turns traditional urban water security approaches on their head, and shows that there is not a one-size-fits-all pathway to urban water security.
Innovation across water scarce cities is required to beat bleak water futures.
Through an analysis of urban water security in scarcity contexts, the report shines a light on existing solutions and interprets information in new and powerful ways.

Ranchi: Residents of wards 30 and 31 are staring at yet another thirsty summer as the ground water level in both continues to recede at an alarming rate.
But residents in our locality have been fighting with each other over water for years.
In 2016, some middle-income residents of a few localities started water harvesting at their residences.
But this was yet to be adopted by most of the residents in the area.
Suman Kumar Arya, a resident of Sukhdeonagar in ward 31, explained why rain water harvesting did not click.
They don’t know what rain harvesting is all about and have a very poor civic sense.
People throw garbage anywhere they like," he said.
If summer is notorious for water crisis, monsoon causes water logging and floods several localities.
Besides water crisis, law and order problems is another issue that needs attention.
Ward 31 councillor Asha Devi, too, said water scarcity was the biggest problem in her area.

Moreover, the degradation of most of these water bodies have occurred in a span of a decade.
To make sure that there is no action on the encroachments that have taken place, the land sharks have resorted to the tactics of building religious structures so that no destruction takes place.
Other purposes for which the large area of land has been utilised include building of community centre, cowsheds, parks, commercial zones and even parking lot exclusively for the corporates.
The ancient Sukhrali village pond, a rare pond situated in the centre of the city, has survived from being taken over by the real estate sharks unlike other ponds in the village that have been urbanised.
However, the residents of Sukhrali do not feel very happy at the state of maintenance of the pond and rather want it to be converted into a park or a sports ground for training.
Chief Minister ML Khattar during the recent budget session also acknowledged the concerns of falling ground water reserve in Gurugram.
On the part of urban renewal of ponds, the Gurugram civic body will start working on the revival of three ponds namely Basai, Jahajgarh and Sukhrali.
Not only was there a reduction in water bodies but also there was over exploitation of ground water reserves.
In 1974, the ground water in Gurugram can be traced at six meters below the ground level.
Water scarcity in large parts of the city has resulted in the growth of tanker mafia where water is sold to the resident at exorbitant rates.

Cape Town – Should the feared Day Zero hit the city, the Western Cape legislature plans to move its operations to Worcester and send non-essential staff home.
DA chief whip Mark Wiley said plans were already in place and scoping had been done of the Breede River Valley municipality in Worcester for a possible relocation of the legislature.
He was briefing journalists on the DA’s quarterly performance in the legislature.
It has undoubtedly changed many operations in the province and of course had a massive impact on every resident.
We have also mapped out a plan which works in phases.
It will be a response to avert the worst-case scenario.
These plans have been in the working and parties are aware of it,” he said.
Wiley also said the legislature building in Wale Street had been fitted with water-saving devices.
“One of the biggest concerns we had was the potential for the water crisis to curtail our programme, incapacitating us from fulfilling our first quarter duties.
For this reason, quite a number of committee meetings were rescheduled and will take place in the second quarter.