UNI - Monday, May 10 1999

MUSSOORIE: An alarming decrease in the amount of water coming from various water sources due to lack of rains has intensified the water crisis in this popular hill resort this summer tourist season.

Many natural sources of water have dried up as there have been no rains in the region for the last five months. Forest fires in the Tehri region surrounding Mussoorie have also added to the gravity of the situation.

As the population of this hill town is increasing and the natural sources of water are continuously decreasing, the scarcity of water would increase very day. If it does not rain in the next 20 days, people here may not even have enough water to drink, according to a survey conducted here by the vigilance committee set up by the supreme court to look into the ban on construction imposed in Mussoorie.

At present, 70 lakh litres of water are being supplied here every day. From March to October, the requirement of drinking water goes up by 10 per cent due to the tourists. There are only a few winter months when there is adequate water supply as a third of the resident population is out of Mussoorie during that period. Owing to its mountainous terrain, sources of water for Mussoorie are limited to mountain streams, brooklets and rainwater, and do not include ground water. During summer months, the demand for water goes up and the frequency of rains and discharge of streams fall.

Jal Sansthan, Mussoorie, has water storage capacity of 16 million litres in reservoirs at Gun Hill. At times when there is a surplus, excess water is pumped into these shortage tanks to be used during days of peak demand.

This year, however, due to the absence of rain, the situation is much worse than it has been in past years. Authorities concerned will have to make concerted efforts to increase the supply of water in Mussoorie and in the Doon valley, which is also faced with acute water scarcity this summer.

The population here goes upto 1.5 lakh during the summer months, placing tremendous pressure on the available resources of the town. No special scheme of enhancing the water supply in this famous Tourist resort has been introduced by the authorities concerned.

Rain is a major source of water in Mussoorie, houses here have sloping roofs. Rain water falling on the roof slides down it into an open pipe fixed at the base of the roof. This pipe is tilted to one side. Water falling into it thus flows to that side and into a tank placed on the ground directly below this end of the pipe.