Dry spell: Water supply in Baramulla decreases by over 50%

Baramulla, Jan 25: Baramulla town is experiencing a reduction of more than 50 percent in water supply from the Jal Shakti department due to a prolonged dry spell in the Kashmir Valley.
Syed Imtiyaz, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of Jal Shakti Baramulla, said that the primary water source, the Jhelum River, is depleted, which has led to challenges in providing the required water to Baramulla town.
“The current level of river Jhelum is down compared to our intake channels, so we are not able to store the required water in the filtration plant during the night,” he explained.
The AEE said the department has been receiving numerous complaints of water shortage, mainly from areas such as Main Town, Kanthbagh, Jetty, Kanispora, and Singhpora areas.
“We are trying our best, but we fill up our tankers from the filtration plant, and the Jhelum River is the main source of the filtration plant,” he said.
On the strategies, if rain or snowfall doesn’t occur, Imtiyaz said they are using water tankers. “But their (tankers’) effectiveness is also dependent on the Jhelum River,” he said, adding that the department currently has three tankers in sub-division Baramulla.
The engineer expressed hope for improvement if rain or snowfall occurs in the coming days, saying that would enhance the water resources.
Meanwhile, the Meteorologic Centre Srinagar predicted generally cloudy weather with light rain over plains and light snow at isolated higher reaches on the morning of January 26.
It has predicted partly to generally cloudy weather with the possibility of light snow at isolated higher reaches towards late evening on January 27.
From January 28-31, there is a possibility of light to moderate rain and snow in many places, according to the forecast.