Congress general secretary Manuel Badwar has said that the water distribution system in the city needs an overhaul along with a study on how much water is being consumed.
“This (water crisis) has started to become a deep-rooted chronic problem in Shillong and it’s high time that the water distribution system needs to be revamped. There’s a need for some sort of a study to be carried out by the concerned department like the PHE and Municipal at the earliest,” Badwar said.
Stating that plumbers have no clue how much water is being consumed in an area, he said distribution is not equal. In some areas a small water tank supplies water to over 100 households while in some a huge water tank supplies water to only a few households, he added.
“There has to be a pilot study as we have to find new ways to address this problem since our water supply system has become dilapidated for several decades and now everything has changed,” he added.
He said that the department has to make a detailed study and also tap all the pipe leakages, etc because 30-40 per cent of the water goes wasted due to leakages.
On a report that drinking water supplied to some localities is unsafe, he said the government should make public on how the treatment plant at Mawphlang functions. “I believe that the test was not carried by the NGO members at home but it was done at a proper testing center. If the report shows that it is unclean, then I don’t believe there is a mistake,” he said.
He said that the MDA government should stop being in a denial mode that everything is hunky-dory and accept constructive criticism.
