Water crisis: Residents rely on roadside taps, mineral water (Times Of Times 15 June 2012)

NEW DELHI: As the water crisis continues unabated, residents have been compelled to take desperate measures. While many are spending sleepless nights waiting for water to trickle in, others have been forced to bank on roadside taps for their daily fill.
At Sant Nagar in north Delhi, residents are faced with a peculiar situation. While one part of the colony gets ample water supply, on the other side taps are running dry. The situation worsens when the timings of power supply and water supply don't match.
"We get water for about two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. We try to store as much water as we can. But at times, even that water is of poor quality," said Manoharlal Tanwar, president of Sant Nagar Resident Welfare Association (RWA). "We become absolutely helpless when there is no electricity," added Tanwar. In the absence of supply, residents have to rely on water tankers. Many have even been buying bottles of mineral water.
It's not only residents of Sant Nagar that are compelled to purchase water. Ashok Bhasin of Gulabi Bagh says that people in his area have also been forced to take similar measures. "There is no water, boring is not allowed and tankers are not available. What else can people do to fulfill their requirements other than buy water," he said.
In a Sector 4 colony of Timarpur, the scanty supply has literally brought people out on the streets. "Since one month, we have been facing water problems. We get water supply for barely an hour so we line up on the roadside and fill water from taps installed in slums near our colony," said general secretary of the RWA, AK Srivastava.
Other areas hit by the crisis include Burari, Vasant Vihar, Gulabi Bagh, Vasant Kunj and Munirka. Monika Bhatia, a 22-year-old student who is a resident of Munirka, uses the two buckets of water she gets daily, sparingly. "My landlord gets water from tankers and we get one bucket each for drinking and bathing. One bucket of drinking water usually lasts us three days, she rues.