New Delhi (Mizzima) – Starting Wednesday morning, many townships in Rangoon Division in Burma experienced a lack of water following the rupture of a pipeline from Gyophyu Reservoir.
‘A main pipeline was ruptured, and we were told that this will be fixed by tomorrow [Thursday] morning. Almost all townships are affected’, a municipal official at Lanmadaw Township told Mizzima.
Residents whose water was cut off have had to buy water from water cart suppliers at a cost of around 3,000 kyat (US$ 3.66) per cart (about 48 gallons). In some commercial locations in Rangoon, customers faced difficulty in using toilets because of the water supply disruption.
The water supply to Rangoon draws from Gyophyu, Phugyi, Hlawgar and Ngamoeyeik reservoirs, which provide a total of 140 million gallons per day. Water is distributed to townships by a quota system.
The total supply to Rangoon, an area of about 6 million residents, is 160 million gallons per day, including other water sources. However, the daily water demand is about 180 million gallons per day, the Yangon Media Group reported.
Hlawgar reservoir supplies 14 million gallons, Gyophyu supplies 27 million gallons, Ngamoeyeik supplies 45 millions and Phugyi supplies 54 million gallons respectively, according to the Yangon Media Group quoting a Rangoon City Development Committee source.
An additional water supply of one million gallons comes from South Dagon water distribution stations and an additional 16 million gallons from tube wells, the paper reported.
