Amid Heatwave, Water Supply Stopped To Odisha’s Sundargarh Town

Sundargarh: Piling up woes on the people of Odisha’s Sundargarh town, water supply has been since morning on Monday amid extreme heatwave condition.

According to sources, the entire town, which is supplied water from Ib river, has been left high and dry after the river completely dried up. Around 60% of its population depend on the tap water supplied from the river, while the rest source it from wells and deep borewells.

The Water Resources department had laid the pipes for connecting all households with water supply at a cost of Rs 40 crore 2 years back. But neither the department nor the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) took any step to tap a perennial source, said the sources.

Now that the Ib river, which is not a perennial river, has dried up due to extreme heat, the department and the WATCO are left with no source to supply to the people.

Sundargarh town in western Odisha, located close to industrial city Rourkela, recorded maximum temperature of 43 degree Celsius on Sunday. In fact, the entire western Odisha has been reeling under extreme heatwave for the last few days.