There was rapid drop in subsoil water lever in certain parts of
Bhubaneswar. People knew this is going to happen but as usual blamed the
government for the water problem. One such senior retired central Government
officer who had never experienced water scarcity in his life was a victim to
this sub soil water problem. He had given the upper floor of his house on rent
for rupees ten thousand. The tenant was furious for the water problem and
threatened the owner Mr. Paul, that he would deduct money for the tanker
charges. There was scarcity of municipality water supply too due to dry river
beds. Mr. Paul had an old fashioned ‘well’ but due to poor maintenance that too
had gone almost dry.
The water problem became more
serious and there was lots of exchange of offensive language between the two
ladies, lady of the house and the tenant’s wife. Ultimately a consensus was
arrived when they agreed to share the cost of the water tanker in equal parts.
The tanker was called over phone and it reached by 11am when the temperature had
touched 40degree centigrade at Lewis road locality of Bhubaneswar. Earlier they
used to call it a ‘temple city’, and then they called it ‘smart city’ now they
call it ‘blast furnace city’.
That was a huge tanker, cost was
Rs: 1000/- for the water. The problem was where to store three thousand gallons
of water? The ladies decided that the safe place would be the ‘well’. The
tanker fellow connected the hose pipe to the well and evacuated the contents,
took the money and left in a hurry. Now the tenant and the house owner were
relieved of the tension for the next few days, as three thousand gallons of
water was not a small amount, they thought. After few hours the water pump was
started to fill up the over head tank of the house but there was no sound of
water being pumped to the top floor. The servant went to the top and told the
owner that no water is being pumped; probably there was something wrong with
the pump.
The pump was checked and found to
be in working condition, and then why no water was being pumped, was the
question. The servant looked at the well and said “madam there is no water in
the well”. One thousand rupees and three thousand gallons of clean water have
gone in the drain within three hours. Probably the water was sucked dry by the
negative pressure of the subsoil water level. Till the last hour we were
informed that they have purchased few big plastic buckets and have constructed
a big cement tanks inside the bathroom. The tenant has left the rented house
and has started to stay in a nearby hotel, till the water condition improved.
The hotel bill would be adjusted with the house rent in subsequent months. That
locality was making news like a laughter show, when people came to know about ‘storing
water in a dry well’.
Sanjoy Kumar Satpathy
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