Date:08/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/08/stories/2007040801970500.htm

Karnataka - Belgaum

Belgaum villages facing water scarcity

Staff Correspondent

Sources such as open wells and borewells are drying up in many places

BELGAUM: With the temperature soaring every day and no sign of rainfall in the district, villages, especially in the northern parts of the district, are facing a water crisis.

While the situation may not be as bad as it is in Belgaum city, irregular water supply owing to poor maintenance and management of available water resources and the supply system has become a cause of worry for residents.

The local administrations have been supplying water in tankers to houses in a couple of villages in Athani and Ramdurg taluks for over a fortnight. However, water sources such as open wells and borewells are drying up in several other villages. According to official sources, tankers are being deployed wherever required. The district administration has already identified 81 villages in Athani, Ramdurg and Saundatti taluks that could face an acute drinking water shortage if there is no rainfall in the next few days. The Government has already released Rs.12 crore for tackling the drinking water shortage in the affected villages.

Efforts by this correspondent to contact the Executive Engineer and Assistant Executive Engineer of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board regarding efforts to address the water shortage in the district went in vain. Other officials too refused to cooperate and passed the buck.

According to residents, many of them face similar problems when trying to draw the attention of officials to the water shortage.