The Sindh High Court Sukkur bench has directed the Sindh Environment Department to test the quality of drinking water being supplied in Sukkur and submit a report within a week. The bench, comprising Justice Dr Rana Mohammad Shamim and Justice Farrukh Zia G. Shaikh, issued these directives on Wednesday, on a petition filed by a Sukkur-based journalist, Lala Asad Pathan, through his lawyer, Ghulam Shabbir Shar, stating that the water being supplied in Sukkur was contaminated and unfit for human consumption.

27 Assam Rifles has dedicated a water storage tank with pipeline to Ghukhiye village under Zunheboto district in Nagaland, stated a press release.

A large number of localities were deprived of drinking water on Tuesday without prior intimation. Water was not released to about 70,000 connections in Vijaynagar Colony, Humayunnagar, Red Hills, Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, Old Mallepally, Allabanda, Asifnagar, Rajendernagar municipal circle areas and surrounding localities. These areas had gone without water for four days last week after Krishna water pipeline burst at Lenin Nagar.

The Delhi Jal Board, which is courting consumers with the promise of additional water from its soon-to-be-commissioned recycling plants and as largesse from the neighbours, will have to work doubly hard to meet the demands of people in four areas designated as most critical.

The Central Water Commission has completed the pre-feasibility study ordered by the Delhi government to tackle the water crisis in the city. The commission has proposed to the government to construct a water barrage that will be used to store overflows from the Yamuna in monsoons. Subsequently, the Delhi Jal Board has accepted the proposals and the work on the project is likely to start soon.

The National Water Supply and Drainage Board has decided to levy a 15 per cent VAT on water bills and to increase the charges for new connections and services from April 5 without notifying the consumers.The consumers who use less than 25 units were exempted from the VAT hitherto and a 10 per cent VAT was charged from those who consume more than 25 units.

Provincial Irrigation and Power Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo and his department's secretary along with water experts including ANG Abbasi, Abdul Majeed Kazi and Idrees Rajput met Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at Chief Minister House on Wednesday. The minister apprised Qaim about water availability situation for Kharif season 2008-09 while water shortage during Kharif also came under consideration. Qaim emphasised upon equal distribution of water and asked the irrigation department officials to ensure supply of water to tail-enders as per their share.

Climbing up and down 40 steps ten times a day is not an easy exercise, but for 28-year-old Dil Maya, it has been a daily routine since she moved into a hut near the IMTRAT hospital in Thimphu. The hut, she lives in with her family, does not have water supply, her family share a toilet with two others, and her hut is surrounded by garbage. "We have to walk down every day to fetch water,' said Dil Maya.

Two combined drinking water supply projects will be completed in municipalities in Coimbatore district, Local Administration Minister M.K.Stalin announced in the Assembly on Wednesday. A combined drinking water supply scheme for Kuruchi, Kuniamuthur municipalities and Kinathukkadavu town panchayat will be completed at a cost of Rs.49.93 crore in December this year, he said. This will benefit 45,000 people in the region. A combined water supply scheme taken up in the district will benefit Goundanpalayam municipality and Vadavalli town panchyat.

Water connection charges for houses of less than 500 sq.ft have been reduced to Rs. 100, according to M.K. Stalin, Local Administration and Rural Development Minister. This was being done to enable people belonging to economically weaker sections of society to get the water connection easily, he said, wrapping up the debate in the Assembly on the demand for grants to his departments.