Water crisis of Shimla Town: Past and present scenario

Abstract

In the present manuscript, the effort is made to understand the gravity of the water crisis of Shimla in the year 2018 and how remedial measures have been adopted by state-level authorities to overcome it. Shimla, being one of the most sought-after tourist designations in India has witnessed water scarcity in the summer months for several decades and this situation aggravated to a full-blown crisis in the year 2018. Taps ran dry for weeks and this grave situation became a nationwide headline. The summer of 2017 was dry and data points towards the fact that even the winter that year witnessed scanty snowfall. Climate change triggered long dry spells and extensive heavy rainfall in short spans leading to an acute water crisis. The government authorities had to immediately resort to counteractive measures to overcome it. The century-old water storage and distribution network which was built by the British were completely refurbished. This storage and distribution network was leading to an excess of water leakage. Water restoration initiatives have been planned and implemented to great scales. The authorities have also sought the help of the world- bank to start water collection from new resources. Initiatives were also taken for improving the water quality, which was one of the major concerns amongst the residents. Water distribution monitoring is now been done at regular intervals. These schemes have solved the water crisis of Shimla to a certain extent but haphazard development of the city, increasing population and high tourist influx is a definite cause of concern which could further provoke water scarcity.