Potable water will be available in all schools by 2014: Govt

Potable water will be available in all school of Uttarakhand, including those located in remote areas, by next year and also in every village by 2018, state drinking water minister Mantri Prasad Naithani has said.
A survey has been carried out by the ministry in this regard in natural calamity prone areas and places suffering from short supply of potable water have been identified, Naithani told reporters here yesterday.
The state government's priority in the coming months will be to make potable water available in these areas at the earliest, he said, adding that by 2018 all villages across Uttarakhand will have adequate supply of potable water.

He said so far as schools of the state were concerned, all of them including those in difficult hilly terrain will get potable water by next year.
Almora, Pauri, Champawat, and some parts of Tehri district have been reeling under acute potable water shortage, he said citing the survey report.
A high powered committee has been set up to streamline water supply in these areas, he said, adding that a roadmap will be prepared in consultation with forest and water resources officials and NGOs to remove the bottlenecks in providing potable water in these areas.
He said an ambitious programme is being worked out to recharge 2287 dried up water sources in hilly areas.

Due to receding groundwater levels, 782 hand pumps are not in working condition in the state and efforts are on to operationalise them again with the help of solar energy.