7 years on, water crisis in Bandipora area persists after collapse of pre-settling tank

Bandipora, Aug 26: Seven years on since the central wall of a pre-settling tank (PST) collapsed during the testing phase in 2018, the Jal Jeevan department is yet to make it functional, resulting in a potable water crisis in the main Bandipora town and adjacent villages of north Kashmir in district headquarters during rains.

The crisis has deepened amid a blistering heatwave, with locals facing an acute shortage of water at regular intervals, locals complained to Greater Kashmir.

The PST, which was allotted for construction in 2012 at Bilal Colony, would have functioned as a water storage unit to settle sediments and other hard impurities as part of a pre-purification process to supplement a source promotion scheme.

Later the water would be diverted to the water filtration plant. However, the tank collapsed within a few months of its testing phase, never to be restored.

The failure to restore the PST, locals said, forces the department to cut the water supply to a large town area during rains in the upper reaches, with no clarity on why the important unit has remained nonfunctional for so many years.

"The rains and cloudbursts often occur in the upper reaches, and the source from where water is supplied to a huge town area and other adjacent villages gets muddy," said Shakeel Mohammad, a local.

"With no PST in place, the water is directly supplied to the filtration plant near the sub-divisional office, and hence the department is either forced to cut the supply or, at times, taps run turbid water, which is frustrating," he added.

With frequent rains and occasional cloudbursts in the remote mountain areas amid hot weather conditions, the water quality remains turbid, forcing the Jal Jeevan department to cut off supply often.

"We have to line up to collect water from springs as the water supply has been erratic for over a week," one more local said.

The department claims that the PST is "no issue" but does not explain why it remains nonfunctional after its central wall collapsed years ago.

One of the locals said the department had cleared the bill to the contractor before testing the PST and was unable to seek repairs.

Although some minor construction was carried out lately by erecting columns it remains nonfunctional. The PST is now used by local children to play football or cricket, as witnessed by this reporter.

While talking to Javid Raina, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) Jal Jeevan Mission of the erstwhile PHE department Bandipora, he said the PST would be made functional under another central government program called 'Amrut 2', which he said would resolve the issue of muddy water during rain.

Given the growing population of the town and adjacent areas, he claimed that they are pitching for "another filtration plant," amid claims that the water is also not treated to the level where people feel satisfied.

Raina assured that they would be submitting the DPRs to resolve the issues the Bandipora area is facing.

Raina, however, claimed that another issue of the "water crisis" was "illegal connections and unregulated boosting of supply water."