The story of Monggar town’s water shortage is not new. And this time again, at a time when the temperature is soaring high and water is in much demand. Our reporter, Sonam Choden, says it is not an unusual sight to see people loading their trucks with drums to collect water from any available sources.
Sharma, a hotelier, says he has been fetching water for quite some time now. “We have to get water from hospital area and Kilikhar. It has been 16 days now and we are facing so many difficulties. If it continues we might have to even close our hotels.”
And many like him drive to a source to get water. “We inform the house owners about the problem. I think the house owner spoke to the municipal or the Dzongkhag. We are told that there is no water at the source. So we go to places where there is water with our containers,” says Bhim Bahadur, a local resident.
The story is no different at Monggar higher secondary school. With more than 400 students receiving the boarding facility, the problem is acute. “Toilets are becoming worst every day. Students go to the Dratshang and manage especially the boys but for girls it is difficult. There is overflowing water at the guest house area so the girls go there sometime. Some students come to my place asking for drinking water,” says K.N. Dhakal, vice-principal of the School. .
Municipal office is aware of the problems. “As we release one third of the tank it is hardly enough for the whole town,” says Tashi Dorji, Executive Engineer of the Monggar Municipal Office.
A training was conducted for the water treatment plant technicians in Monggar recently. A specialist with the Department of Engineering Services, Ichharam Dulal, said water sources in Mongar is drying at an alarming rate. “As a solution what we can do is we should have impounding reservoir. We should store water for the dry seasons.”
Drying up of sources is not the only problem. According to the Director of the Department of Engineering Services, Rinchen Dorji, maintenance is also a problem. “I was little bit disheartened because the plants which are built at the colossal cost were not being maintained and the reason that I found out was we did not have adequate operators in the first place, second when we have the operators they were not trained on the purpose and they did not really know the job they were suppose to do.”
Monggar town faces shortage of water every year and there is no solution at sight, at least for now.
