Research Methodology
4.3 Background of Study Area
The city of Guwahati is located between 26°05' to 26°12' North latitude and 91°34' to 91°51' East longitudes in Kamrup district of Assam (India) on the bank of the mighty river Brahmaputra.
The city has an undulating topography with varying altitudes from 49.500 to 55.500 m above the mean sea level with a number of hills and hillocks. There are several low-lying areas and bils (billabong or lake-like wetlands) within the city.
Guwahati city has a total area of approximately 262 km2 under Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) with a population of 9,68,549 as per 2011 census (Das &
Goswami, 2013). The civic amenities in Guwahati are being looked after by two ULBs viz.
Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and GMDA (JnNURM, 2006). However, the planning, construction and operation of water supply facilities, sewerage and drainage are the responsibility of multiple governmental organizations like Assam Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (AUWSSB), GMC, GMDA and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), delegated to serve specific demarcated area in the city (Bhattacharya & Borah, 2014; Das & Goswami, 2013).
Despite this delegation, only 30% of the population have access to piped-water supply (Das &
Goswami, 2013). GMC supplies piped water to some parts of South-Central Guwahati and South-
West Guwahati, AUWSSB to some specific areas of South-Central Guwahati, whereas PHED is supplying piped-water to South-Central, North and South-West Guwahati. PHED’s supply is, however, limited to government buildings and public establishments (JnNURM, 2006). All these governmental organizations run their water treatment plants independent of the ULB.
The water treatments plants maintained by GMC and AUWSSB at Panbazar, Satpukhri and Zoo Road are running below their designed capacity. However, water is supplied for all existing plants for approximately 2 to 3 hours daily either in the morning or evening. Further, there is no laboratory for testing of water samples and the chemicals required for treatment are added arbitrarily. Moreover, the distribution system had been laid in a haphazard way and low pressure problem is faced by the users. The wastage of water in distribution system is reported to be about 30 to 40%, but no systematic studies have been carried out so far. In Satpukhri treatment plant, one of its distribution reservoirs has no covering and this condition needs be improved. Most of these plants have exceeded their designed life and the expansion & renovation work are very difficult due to limited area (JICA, 2008).
On the other hand, groundwater in Guwahati city is available under confined to semiconfined conditions at a shallow depth of 2 - 4 m, thereby encouraging its public usage (through dug well, hand pumps or bore wells) (Das & Goswami, 2013). Several researchers, however, have expressed concerns towards groundwater quality about iron, fluoride, nitrate and arsenic contaminations in various regions of Assam (Chakrabarty & Sarma, 2011; Chetia et al., 2011). Guwahati is also not an exception and traces of fluoride and iron above the guideline values of WHO have been observed in the eastern and southern plains of the city (Chakrabarty & Sarma, 2011). Several researchers revealed that the concentration of fluoride is higher with depth and the deeper aquifers are more contaminated with fluoride (Lahkar, 2015; DGM, 2018). To minimize public usage of contaminated groundwater and improve the accessibility of potable water, the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India has initiated implementation of four water treatment and supply schemes in Guwahati city using Brahmaputra river water as the source of surface water.
These schemes are located in North Guwahati, South-Central Guwahati − both funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), South-West Guwahati funded under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), under Government of India and South-East Guwahati (funded by Asian Development Bank) (GJB, 2009). The upcoming water supply scheme
of South-West Guwahati is going to cover thirteen municipal wards and four undesignated peri- urban areas in Guwahati termed as zones. The present study is confined to this scheme only and the study area refers to the area served under the scheme. The project being taken up for investigation is the upcoming South-West Guwahati water supply scheme of 107 MLD capacity (GMDA, 2013). The project commenced in 2010 with scheduled completion in 2011 but has already missed a couple of revised deadlines till 2015 (The Telegraph, 2012). The reasons cited by authority for delay in completion of the projects are natural and various technical reasons (The Telegraph, 2017). This proposed scheme is also facing widespread public protests against its implementation.
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