District Collector E. Devadasan has said that serious efforts needed for protecting the water sources as there is severe shortage of drinking water in many areas in the district. The impending drought and subsequent water shortage should be dealt with seriously as areas such as Udumbanchola, Kodikulam and Vandiperiyar are facing severe shortage of drinking water and unused water sources like ponds should be cleaned and the water made potable, he said.
Steps needed to be taken for protecting water by repairing motors and correcting the leakages of pipelines, he said. It has been noticed that in many grama panchayat areas where water shortage is already experienced have also unused wells and leakages of pipelines in the public water supply scheme.
Small drinking water sources could be locally used as prime water sources.
Mr Devadasan also directed the grama panchayats to inform about the water supply projects that are defunct. In a meeting held recently at the collectorate it has been noticed that though many drinking water projects were started, they were either non-functional or not completed. Those projects that were completed also could not be made use by public due to some other problems aggregating the drinking water shortage. He said that there will be support from the district administration for extending areas of supply of already completed drinking water projects. The local bodies should take care of using the defunct pipelines, he said and added that directions had been given to the water authority and Kerala State Electricity Board officials to take speedy action on supplying water in the drought affected areas.
In some places, drinking water is being carried from remote areas and quality of the water was poor leading to the spread of viral diseases. The officials were given direction to identify such areas where bore wells could be dug up and the possibility of entrusting agencies for drinking water supply in the drought-affected areas. New projects could be started under the Rajiv Gandhi Water Supply Scheme meant exclusively for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories. He said that many abandoned ponds could also be cleaned to use as drinking water sources and the quality of the water supplied should be checked for preventing water-bone diseases as it have been noticed in some areas.
