Noida–Ghaziabad: Parts of Ghaziabad, including Vasundhara, Vaishali and Indirapuram, and Noida, including sectors 11, 56 and 12, faced water supply disruptions from Monday, Oct 19 onwards. Disruptions in the Ganga water supply inconvenienced many during the Navratri and Dussehra festivals during the period.The supply issues cropped up at a time when the Ganga water supply in Noida and Ghaziabad has been suspended for 20 days, starting Oct 19, due to the annual desilting of the Upper Ganga Canal at Haridwar.Local authorities acknowledged the issues, and officials said they are actively working to resolve them. The ageing infrastructure and increased demand during the festive season have contributed to the recent water shortages, officials said, adding that they are implementing emergency measures to ensure that essential water supply is restored as quickly as possible.On Tuesday, disruption in Ganga water supply caused significant inconvenience to residents in areas including Vasundhara, Vaishali and Indirapuram. Residents said they struggled to carry out their daily chores and had to resort to buying bottled water to meet their needs.Parts of the trans-Hindon region – including Arthala, Vasundhara, Vaishali Sector 2, and Radheshyam Park – saw no supply the entire day.With Tuesday being the day of Dussehra, residents pointed out that there was a greater need for water for household cleaning and other tasks, and the lack of adequate supply only compounded their difficulties.Dhirendra Singh, a resident of Vaishali, said that supply in parts of the area had been cut off since Monday evening. “While we managed with the stored-up water, the absence of supply the following morning forced several trips to the market to buy water – costing about Rs 30 per bottle,” Singh said.In Arthala, supply disruptions were reported on Wednesday morning too. Residents claimed supply was only available for 15 minutes that morning, which was insufficient for their daily needs.A junior engineer in the water works department said that while issues persisted in some areas, the department provided water to those locations via tankers.Similar complaints were reported from Noida’s sectors 12, 11, 56 and other nearby areas.“The supply disruptions during the festive period spoil the festivities, especially as several households have guests during the period. The Authority should provide alternate arrangements during such disruptions,” Sanjay Singh, a resident of Sector 11, said.Noida’s daily water requirement has risen to about 553 million litres per day (MLD), of which 240 MLD is Ganga water from Siddharth Vihar and Pratap Vihar plants in Ghaziabad, 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.
