H2Woes: Acute Drinking Water Crisis Hits Nabarangpur And Bhadrak Villagers

Nabarangpur: With the onset of scorching summer, villages in Nabarangpur and Bhadrak districts are grappling with acute drinking water crisis.

For the residents of Nuahirli village, the only source of water is a tubewell. However, due to depletion of ground water level, water flow from the tubewell has become thin and muddy. Womenfolk in the village wait for several hours to collect a bucket of water. Sometimes, men queue up near the tubewell to collect water in the dead of the night.

Though the village is situated only a kilometer away from the Nabarangpur Municipality office, water problem in the village is a decade-old issue. Nuahirli had three tubewells installed at the two ends of the village. However, during summer, the tubewells on the upper end of the village becomes defunct and goes dry while the one at the lower end functions with its’ meager cloudy supply. But the villagers have little option.

Though the villagers have complained about the severe drinking water crisis before the district administration several times, it has fallen on deaf ears.

“We are facing lot of difficulties in getting adequate drinking water. We are living on the muddy water of the only functional tubewell in our village which is not at all potable. The administration is not paying any attention towards our plight despite several requests,” said Subhadra Jani, a villager.

Responding to the situation, Nabarangpur Block Development Officer (BDO) Sukant Kumar Patnaik said that necessary steps will be taken soon to resolve the crisis.

“We are taking stock of the situation. Drinking water will be provided to the villagers by tankers soon,” said Patnaik.

Meanwhile, Basudevpur under Bhadrak district is also under the grip of severe water crisis. Though pipelines were laid in 2016, the system has become dysfunctional due to lack of maintenance.

Locals claim that they are facing drinking water crisis for several years. Even the elected representatives in the past have failed miserably to address the drinking water crisis in the area, they alleged.

“We had brought the issue to the notice of the district administration several times. But so far no step has been taken to address our grievances,” said Sitakanta Nayak, a villager.

When the matter was brought to the notice of the Executive Officer of Bhadrak Municipality office Lagnajit Behera, he assured to take necessary steps to resolve the crisis situation.

“I will ask the concerned officials to take immediate measures to resolve the drinking water issues in that locality,” said Behera.