Faced with acute drinking water shortage, the Uttarakhand government has decided to provide drinking water in several other hilly towns through river bank filtration (RBF) scheme which has ignited hopes to end the perennial problem in the hill state.
“We have identified six towns in the hilly areas of Uttarakhand where we would be supplying drinking water through the RBF scheme in future,” said Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan Secretary Appraisal P C Kimothi, the sole state-run drinking water supplying agency. The decision came after scientists and engineers successfully installed the riverbank filtration network at four hilly towns of Satpuli, Augustmuni, Karanprayag and Srinagar where they are working very well. “We have seen the RBF projects in these areas and found them in good condition,” said Thomas Grishek, Professor, the University Of Applied Sciences Dresden, Germany, which provided the know-how regarding the RBF project in Uttarakhand.
The RBF is an age-old European technique under which soil in the riverbeds naturally removes harmful microbes and organic material as water passes through it. Through this process, the filtered groundwater is obtained from aquifers that are hydraulically connected to rivers and lakes. Wells are dug on river banks to pump safe water out.
Under the Rs 7-crore project of providing safe drinking water, sanctioned by the Centre, the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan has identified six more towns — Gochar, Rudraprayag, Gopeshwar, Almora, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh.