The Shimla Crisis

The persistent problem of water in Shimla town has precipitated into a full blown crisis. The situation is so precarious now that picketing, protest, demonstrations etc. are happening rampantly. The situation is so bad that the Shimla water crisis made headlines in the BBC, the Guardian-London and the New York Times

The city administration has washed its hands of the responsibility of water distribution as just when the crisis erupted the Mayor was on a China tour. The water distribution in the city has been taken over by the HP High court which in its new Avatar is in control from top to bottom including the key man. The Chief Minister invariably every day is holding meetings and a committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the state is now responsible for water distribution in Shimla city-unheard of in the history of the town. Today there was a flash that the CM of Himachal has rushed to Delhi to apprise Modi about the Shimla water crisis. Wonder his staying in Shimla would have been better. However, both the courts intervention and the CMs meeting are unable to cut much ice and almost everyday people are screaming for water through their protests.

The situation is similar to what happened in Cape Town in South Africa. There are fights, quarrels and soon it can lead to riots. The police is asked to guard the water supply through tankers. Just recently the police arrested the residents of Kaithu locality who had blocked the road for want of water as their locality had not got water since last seven days. The CPIM held a massive protest demonstration in the Mayor’s office. Arti- the BJP councillor from Sanjaulli joined the protests against her own government and the MC. The situation is really bad.

The BJP has the ominous answerability as the Municipal Corporation Shimla, local MLA who is also the cabinet minister and the state government -all are BJP ruled. The party that won the MC Shimla almost a year ago and the state 6 months after had promised to provide water on daily basis. However, the reality is very harsh as explained above. The MC Shimla is itself accepting that water is being distributed once in 8 days and in some localities, it is once in 10 days. It means that the BJP run administration is able to provide water just thrice in a month! The institutions have miserably failed to either comprehend the situation or effectively manage the water crisis. The people continue to face the crisis and as a result are forced to fetch water from the adjoining natural sources (Bauris) which are highly contaminated.

What are the reasons for such an unprecedented crisis?

The Shimla city has supply from five major water sources. These are Gumma, Giri, Ashwini Khad, Churat and Seog. The overall installed capacity is 65 million litres per da (MLD). The demand in the city is approximately 45 MLD. The figures would suggest that the installed capacity is far beyond the requirement and there should be no reason for the present crisis. Despite the installed capacity being high, actually the city never gets more than 35 MLD as an average throughout the year. More than 50% is leakage. This leakage takes place at both the stages-pumping and distribution. No serious efforts were made in the past except by the CPIM run MC from 2012-17 when Giri, Gumma and Ashwani Khad leakages were checked. The Giri scheme has an installed capacity of 20 MLD whereas not more than 8 MLD was being pumped. More than 2 km pipe line was changed and Giri was able to throw more than 20 MLD-even more than the installed capacity.

Another major problem is the contaminated water in Ashwani Khad. This source which is one of the best source got contaminated in 2005 when a sewage treatment plant (STP) Malyana was constructed just 5 km upstream. Since then there has been periodic episodes of Hepatitis in the city. Since 2007 after every alternate year the people got infected with this virus and many even died. The previous MC (2012-17) stopped lifting water from Ashwani Khad. This source was able to meet the requirements of 25% of the city’s population. Stopping water lift from this source is a major challenge as this cannot be compensated even by an increase from Giri. At present not more than 2-3 MLD of water is being pumped into the city from Ashwani Khad. The MC has to take this challenge seriously as if it insists on lifting water from this source then the chances of outbreak of hepatitis looms large. If they do not then the persisting crisis would further deepen. There has to be a proper mechanism to deal with this source.

The third reason for the deepening of this crisis is that there are over 50 sources in and around the city which are run and operated by the Irrigation and Public Health department (IPH) of the state government. The IPH has virtually stopped lifting water from these sources on the pretext that these are contaminated. This has further mounted burden on the MC to ensure that water is supplied even to such areas which are not under the MC jurisdiction.

In the history of Shimla MC, it was run either by the Congress or the CPIM. The BJP got elected in 2017. It is also believed that the BJP leadership is interested to get the situation worse so that it becomes a fit case for privatising of the water supply in the city.

Is climate change a reason?

Believe it or not, but climate change and its impact is profound in the Shimla city water supply system. The winters were by and large dry. The average rainfall was 80% deficient. It rained in March and April. But retention of water in these months is very less. The sources of water have gone 50% below their average. It may be put on record that the Shimla city uses surface water only for water supply. Over a period, the impact of climate change is vivid. The eco-system supporting the city is witnessing less snow, more rain in the year but less time period of rain. It means that there is less retention of water through natural water eco-system and more flooding as rain comes in torrents. Such water cannot be harvested.

The overall building plan in the city is also a matter of concern. As what is required is more embankments so that the flow of the water is restricted so that it percolates and recharges numerous water bodies. But the kind of infrastructure built for drains, houses etc is where water gushes fast and is hardly retained. The resilient strategies of buildings have to be made operationalised. Since for long the city is going to bank on surface water it must be ensured that large catchment areas around the water bodies are developed so that natural water recharge takes place. Just like the Seog catchment area where no construction is allowed and is a wildlife sanctuary.

What is the alternative?
There has to be both immediate and long-term planning. For immediate there must be proper monitoring and management. Proper distribution of water and checking of leakages must be done on war front. The government offices and colonies both the central and state occupy almost 50% of the land mass (minus forests) in Shimla city. It has to be made mandatory that at least the government offices ensure that they become resilient and ensure that they have 100% rain water harvesting in their offices and residential colonies. This planning is hardly there.

The Greater Shimla Water Supply and Sewage Circle (GSWSSC) must be strengthened for its autonomous functioning. The duality of water supply and distribution has to be ended.

The city requires to find another major source of water supply which is perennial. From a population of 30 thousand (during the British period) now the city has over 2,00,000 people with over 1 lakh entering and leaving the city every day. The city also has more than 4 million (40 lakh) tourists visiting every year. Hence the present set of water sources cannot suffice. The previous MC (CPIM led) was instrumental for entering into a MOU with the World Bank for lifting water from Kol Dam. The Kol Dam water supply scheme is supposed to be more than 100 MLD. This is almost thrice what the city gets at present. By now the execution of the work should have begun. However, it is still at the negotiation stage. The BJP government has to take the initiative to ensure that the Kold Dam scheme is executed at war pace. Just like the Ghandalwater scheme which was executed by the previous government in Shimla rural constituency. There cannot be excuses for performance and the BJP must learn that. What is required is a cohesive strategy with a plan that has to be well executed and monitored. Else the city will soon see loss of people, jobs, and economy which will be highly detrimental for both the city and its citizens.