Andaman Islands’ Water Woes

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PORT BLAIR, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- The Andaman Islands located in the Bay of Bengal is a place that is loved by the tourists and nature lovers alike. The mention of the islands conjures up images of sandy beaches, azure skies and calm seawater. However, for those who live in the islands life is not much hunky dory. It is quite ironical that an island located in the middle on Indian Ocean will face shortage of water, yet this issue is bugging the residents for quite some years. The islands witnessed poor rainfall from 2002 to 2004. Especially in 2002 the rainfall was really inadequate.

In Port Blair, the residents get water every third day. For fresh water the residents of the Andaman Islands have to depend on Dhanikhari Dam and Rutland Island. The administration is ill equipped to cope with the water supply problem. In 2003, they came up with Rutland Water Supply Scheme but it did not work out the way it was planned owing to several reasons. The residents are at the receiving end as always. They restarted this project later in 2007 when the water problem reached its peak. Now the administration has decided to get water with the barges.

However, things need to be done on an urgent basis to address the water scarcity of the Andaman Islands. The residents have become fed up with the lackadaisical attitude of the administration. They also feel that this problem can also affect the tourism industry adversely in near future. The water crisis worsens during the summer and even in the monsoon they do not get water delivered to them on a daily basis.