Water supply in summer

We take into consideration the natural causes like no rise in the ground water level, for the situation, but what about the manmade ones? Officials have been blaming 'rampant pilferage, systems loss, illegal connections and the consumers' wasteful habits for the overall short supply. But they were also quick to admit the involvement of corrupt officials who are primarily responsible for the chaos. What they have failed to address is the issue of reining in these officials and taking stern action against them. May be the racket is too 'powerful'; so what? The real test of governance lies in weeding it out.

The authority must get its priority right -- and that is stopping waste and providing enough supply of water to the consumers, especially at a time when it's most needed. We hope Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) will not let us down this time; it will take effective measures to prevent pilferage and corruption. An action plan should be drawn up immediately to check on unmetered, unauthorised water connections and rid the system of these. The water ministry must also sit with the experts in order to build reservoirs of rainfall water to mitigate the crisis on a long term basis.

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