Water problem on Chiru’s home turf

Brawls at public taps are not uncommon; some dig pits and draw salty water

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Aquaculture boom leaves water sources polluted

Safe drinking water out of reach for 25-30 habitation

The struggle for a pail of water waged by Andraju Kumari from this sea-side fishermen’s habitation, a stone’s throw away from Praja Rajyam (PR) president K. Chiranjeevi’s ancestral village of Mogalturu, is unlikely to be an election issue for any of the major political parties.

“If I spend a couple of hours at the public tap, I get only two pots of water with which our six-member family is forced to manage for two days,” a peeved Kumari said.

All her family members eke out a living by working on farms or fishing in the sea. “Waiting at the tap means that one of us has to forego the day’s earnings,” she rues. The otherwise sleepy village of around 400-odd families wakes up to brawls at public taps.

As the precious liquid starts trickling down from the tap, the entire village turns hyperactive with people, irrespective of age and gender, running towards the taps with the containers.

If the water is not adequate, there are ‘water wars’ between the inhabitants, especially if those in the upper reaches break the pipeline.

As water is supplied on alternate days, the inhabitants dig pits and draw salty water.

The dwindling water levels in the Godavari are impacting the levels in the summer storage tank at Metrevu from where drinking water is drawn for Mollaparru and five other surrounding villages.

Saline water

The boom in aquaculture has left all the drinking water sources polluted, while the sea has made the groundwater saline.

This is not an isolated case limited to this village alone. Safe drinking water is out of reach of almost all the 25-30 habitations on the 19-km coastline falling under Narsapur and Mogaltur mandals during every summer.

The discussions at the ‘rachcha bandas’ (public platforms) in the villages, which currently centre around the defection of their MLA from the Telugu Desam Party to the Praja Rajyam, his electoral prospects and caste equations in politics, do not, however, focus on this perennial problem.