Water woes in Ukhrul; ways to face the issue
Source: Hueiyen News Service / A Nikunja Singh

Imphal, June 30 2015 : Ukhrul District Headquarters received raw water from two sources, namely Shinguira (Old source) and Namra Kong and Kokthi Kongrei (New source).

Both the old and new sources are located on the slope of the Shirui Hills.

There is rapid decrease in yield at the sources due to heavy deforestation and could hardly meet the demand during the dry season.

However, during monsoon, there is plenty of water at the sources, though the quality of the water from the new source has gone down to the large extent due to the heavy pollution caused by the newly constructed road (Shirui Mapum) as it passes through the catchment area of the new source and heavy deforestation resulting to heavy top soil run off.

As a result, the turbidity is so high that the existing Water Treatment Plant (WTP) does not have the capacity to treat the water.

The old source Shinguira is located on the North-Western (NW) slope of Shirui Hills and flows towards the North and falls into the Lanyi river before entering into the State of Nagaland.

The quality of the raw water from this source remains almost constant and unpolluted during the dry and as well as rainy seasons.

Water woes in Ukhrul; ways to face the issue

The new sources Namra Kong and Kokthi Kongrei (original stream of Thoubal River) was tapped under the Augmentation of W/S Scheme for Ukhrul District Headquarters (NLCPR).The quality of the raw water at the time of implementing the project was very good and continue to do so till the time of construction of the Shirui-Mapum Road (PMGSY) for the last 2-3 years and due to the opening of the saw mill near the vicinity of the water source at Shirui.

This road cuts across the catchment area of these water sources and thus, during the rainy season, the quality of the water deteriorated to such an extent that it became impossible for treatment.

During the monsoon, the turbidity of this water is so high that even after passing through the Settling Tank, the slow Sand Filter could not take the load of the raw water even after heavy chemical dosing with Alum, Lime and Bleaching Powder.

The water thus, treated though a little discolour is sometimes supplied to the consumers to meet the requirement.

During the recent heavy spurt of monsoon rain, the turbidity of the raw water became so high that one of the Slow Sand Filter (SSF) was coked and was set aside for restoration.

Once, the chamber is restored, the water quality will certainly improve.

The Areas of Ukhrul Headquarters served by this source will have to bear this burden as there is every chance of interruption due to this inflow of heavily polluted/turbid water from the source till the soil of the newly cut road is stabilized.

Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the water treatment plant at the time of installation was not designed to tackle such kind of avoidable pollution.

This is in fact a man made creation, which could have been easily avoided, had the concerned Department (PMGSY) consulted the PHE Department before the finalization of the alignment of Shirui-Mapum Road.

The alignment would have been much better had it followed the old trace path which is along or below the raw main pipe line laid by PHE Department.

The Division is earnestly trying its level best to make the Water Supply System of Ukhrul District Headquarters functional smoothly.

(A Nikunja Singh is the Executive Engineer, Ukhrul PHE Division, PHED, Manipur) .