Noida: Taps ran dry across large parts of Noida and Ghaziabad on Monday after the Ganga water treatment plants at Pratap Vihar and Siddharth Vihar were shut for two days from Saturday to clear heavy silt accumulation at Upper Ganga Canal in Haridwar. While stored supply met demand in both districts until Sunday morning, shortages set in through the afternoon. This was the second time the plants were shut since July 30.Several sectors in Noida, including 19, 36, 40, 12 and 55, reported water shortages on Monday, with many residents forced to buy bottled water. Power cuts and pump breakdowns in parts of the city compounded the problem. Officials said tubewells and groundwater, mixed with stored supply from underground reservoirs, are typically used to bridge such gaps during canal shutdowns, but shortfalls persisted.“Residents of Sector 19 have been facing a serious problem of drinking water supply for over one week. The water supply is being received at an extremely low pressure, besides being dirty. While one motor in the underground reservoir (UGR-19) has been out of order for about a week, the Ganga water shutdown in the past two days has exacerbated the situation. Assurances are given daily that the motor will be repaired, but even after one week, nothing has been done,” said RC Gupta, a Sector 19 resident.Mohinder Singh of Sector 40 said Noida Authority’s water department showed little concern for consumers whenever Ganga water supply is suspended, whether for silt cleaning or pipe leakages. “There is no alternative available with the department except to reduce the supply. Consumers are being supplied water directly without chlorination, putting them at serious health risk,” he said.In Ghaziabad’s trans-Hindon areas, parts of Indirapuram, Vasundhara, Vaishali and Kaushambi also went without regular supply. Avadesh Kumar of Indirapuram said he had to buy bottled water after his tap ran dry at his home on Sunday morning. In Vasundhara, Sanjay Singh said there had been no regular supply for four days, forcing residents to buy potable water for daily use.UP Jal Nigam assistant engineer Mukesh Kumar Verma said Ganga water supply resumed by late Monday and the situation was expected to normalise by Tuesday evening, since it takes about six hours for water to travel from Haridwar to Ghaziabad’s plants.Noida’s daily water requirement has risen to about 553 million litres per day (MLD), of which 240 MLD is Ganga water drawn from Siddharth Vihar and Pratap Vihar plants, with the rest sourced from groundwater and tubewells. Ghaziabad’s total daily demand stands at approximately 800 MLD, of which over 120 MLD is treated Ganga water supplied via the same two plants to major localities including Indirapuram, Vaishali, Kaushambi, Vasundhara and Vijay Nagar.
