ANANTAPUR: According to an assessment by the Rural Water Supply department, a majority of the villages as well as urban areas will have sufficient number of drinking water sources even during peak summer this year following satisfactory rains. Many of the tanks are full with Krishna and Tungabhadra waters. After two decades, the Rural Water Supply department appears to be in a relaxed mood this year as against the severe crisis it had been facing for years. Last year, the department had supplied drinking water to more than 400 villages through water tankers while many villages did not have water facility because of the depletion of groundwater sources. More than 250 villages were being provided drinking water through tankers throughout the year even during rainy season. "We assess only around 200 villages need transportations this year because many tanks and water bodies were filled due to heavy rains six months back and also because of the release of Krishna and Tungabha-dra waters through Handri Neeva Sujala Shravanthi main canal", RWS superintendent engineer observed, adding that the department had prepared action plan to mitigate the situation.
About Rs 8 crore funds were needed for the maintenance and extension of existing drinking water systems in the different parts of the district. Normally drinking water problem has been common at Madakasira, Hindupur, Puttaparthi and Kadiri areas every year. With Bukkapatnam, the biggest tank in the region was filled with Krishna waters as part of HNSS phase-II ground water increased and drinking water crisis reduced in the surrounding villages this year.
However, drinking water crisis continued in Hindupur municipality as the civic authorities were supplying through water tankers to the colonies. Though, Srirami Reddy Drinking Water Project is connected to Hindupur, poor quality of works failed to meet the needs of the town and a separate pipeline from Gollapalli reservoir is being laid. Civic authorities had no alternate option just to depend on private tankers. About 70 tankers were hired for purpose of supplying water to the colonies since last April by spending average of '2 lakh for rents during peak summer.
