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Udaipur faces a grim water crisis

Kamla Bora in Udaipur

This City of Lakes in southern Rajasthan is facing its worst-ever drinking water crisis, following four consecutive, less than average monsoons.

The roughly five lakh population of the historic city -- capital of the former Mewar state -- is currently being supplied 35 million litres of water every third day.

The two important lakes in the picturesque city -- Picchola and Fatehsagar -- have been left with only 46.29 million litres of drinking water, which will suffice till the end of next month, officials revealed in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, the state government has prepared a contingency plan to meet the crisis which is likely to aggravate in the arid summer months months. Under this, water from the famous Jaisamand lake, about 40 km from Udaipur, and Badi-Ka-Talab is being diverted to Picchola and Fatehsagar for augmenting Udaipur's drinking water supply. While 25 million litres of water will be released from Jaisamand, around 10 million litres will be released from Badi-Ka-Talab each day.

The state government has also sanctioned Rs.1.93 million for sinking new tube-wells, deepening old, open wells and laying new pipelines to meet the drinking water needs.

However, it is not as if the problem was not anticipated. The government had formulated the Mansi Wakal project long back but it is yet to be taken up. The project envisages feeding the drinking water supply system in the city from the Mansi Wakal river and dam.

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