Rise in turbidity: Water supply to Shimla to remain affected

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 8

The water supply to the state’s capital has been hit and will remain so for the next few days due to the rise in turbidity in all water supply schemes of the town.

This has been necessitated due to the increase in the amount of silt in the sources due to the ongoing monsoon season.

Shimla receives water supply from six main water supply sources — Gumma, Giri, Chairh, Seog, Koti Brandi and Churot.

As per Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL), the turbidity in all water supply schemes has increased over the past few days with the turbidity reaching 11,300 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) in the Giri water supply scheme today which is one of the major sources of the water for the town.

SJPNL officials have urged the people to use water carefully in the next few days to ensure that they do not have to face inconvenience due to the shortage of drinking water.

The officials said there would be some disturbance in the water supply schedule due to high turbidity in the water supply sources.

On Thursday, the town received 36.14 million of litres per Day (MLD) water supply which included 21.02 MLD from Gumma, 5.79 MLD from Giri, 3.51 MLD from Churot, 0.72 MLD from Seog, 1.17 MLD from Chairh and 3.92 MLD from Koti Brandi. This is 12 MLD lower than the required amount of water as the town requires 45 to 48 MLD water on a daily basis.

Earlier this year, the town faced water crisis during the summer season due to the decrease in the water levels of the water supply sources.