Berhampur: With summer on its way, the public health engineering organisation (PHEO) has devised a plan to resolve the issue of drinking water supply "At least a dozen wells will be dug up this year, while more tankers will be installed in water scarcity areas," said Sitaram Panda , executive engineer, PHEO, Berhampur While work on five wells are over, seven more wells are expected to be ready by the end of this year, he added. The wells would provide around 0.5 million litres per day. "These measures will be able to ease the drinking water problem in the town in peak summer period and before the commencement of Janibili water supply project ," Panda said."We will submit a contingency plan to the government for the summer months after assessing the situation of the water supply," Panda added.Water shortage has been a recurrent problem in Berhampur with the town getting around 54.50 millions of litres per day (mld) as against the requirement of 60 mld.Supply of water would become acute during peak summer with Rushikulya river becoming dry. On normal days Rushikulya provides around 20 mld water, sources said. Out of the 40 wards under Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) area, only seven get piped water while the rest are partially provided with piped water, sources said.Meanwhile, the government has set a target to complete the Rs 581.81 crore Janibili water supply project by November. "We hope the project will be completed on time as work on the project is going on in full swing," said MLA (Berhampur) R.Ch Chyaupatnaik.

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