Sambalpur: Most of the rural areas in this district still depend on tube wells to meet their drinking water needs as piped water system is yet to reach the nooks and corners.
Demand for water increases with the mercury soaring during the summer days.
The department, he said, was working on two mega projects and two medium projects for piped water supply to rural areas, besides ensuring that at least one tube well point was provided in each of the 138 gram panchayats (GPs) across nine blocks.
Extra tube wells are being provided where ground water sources are easily located, the engineer said, adding extra provision is made for two categories, namely scarcity habitation and partially covered (PC) areas.
These need immediate attention.
PC habitation means the uncovered habitation in a locality even after one tube well point is provided.
Tube well sinking works in 26 scarcity habitations in six blocks were completed so far, out of 33 such identified points.
Explaining on the mega projects, the engineer said one of the two mega piped water supply projects has a total outlay of Rs 85 crore to cater to the needs of 117 villages in a cluster in 9 GPs in Redhakhol block.
The total outlay for the project is Rs 155 crore and water for the same will be drawn from Hirakud reservoir near Sapne in Rengali block.
Rautrai stressed that providing drinking water to the entire 9 lakh rural population in the district is not a cakewalk.