Noida’s Ganga water supply will be suspended from October 21 for about 25 days because of annual cleaning of the Ganga Canal, raising the risk of drinking water shortages in Noida and Greater Noida East before and during Diwali. The disruption will affect water supplied through Ghaziabad, while authorities prepare tubewells, Ranney wells and tankers as alternative sources.
According to Noida Authority officials, the city will use the next 12 days to repair tubewells and restore Ranney wells so they can be operated at higher capacity when the canal supply stops. The authority said these measures are intended to maintain drinking water availability across sectors during the interruption.
R P Singh, general manager of the Noida Authority’s water department, said tubewells and Ranney wells would be operated at their full capacity. However, he acknowledged that some areas could still face shortages. Tankers will be deployed in locations where the disruption causes a supply problem.
The authority said 40 more tubewells are ready compared with last year. It also said Ranney wells could provide more than 100 million litres per day. These sources are expected to support the city while Ganga water remains unavailable.
The interruption is also expected to affect Greater Noida East, where the upper Ganga Canal is scheduled to be closed from midnight on October 20. The report said water supply in the area could be affected for about 15 days, although restoration to residential sectors may take longer after water is released into the canal.
In Greater Noida, water is expected to be released into the canal on the night of November 7. Authorities may then require another two to three days to restore supply through pipelines to individual sectors. With Diwali falling on November 8, residents could face reduced Ganga water availability during the festival period.
Greater Noida currently supplies about 210 million litres of water per day, including around 80 million litres from the Ganga Canal. In societies in Greater Noida East, approximately 90% of water supply is linked to Ganga water, according to the report. The authority has only about two days of water in reserve and may have to rely more heavily on groundwater during the canal shutdown.
Greater reliance on groundwater could also affect water quality because groundwater with higher total dissolved solids may have to be supplied. The disruption could therefore affect both the quantity and quality of water available, particularly in areas dependent on the canal network.
The areas identified as likely to face the greatest impact in Greater Noida include Surajpur, Alpha, Beta and Gamma sectors, Swarn Nagri, Jaypee Greens, Omicron, Omega and Knowledge Park. Chet Ram Singh, senior manager for Ganga water, said the Greater Noida Authority had written to the irrigation department requesting that the canal cleaning be carried out after Diwali.
The authorities’ immediate response is centred on increasing output from tubewells and Ranney wells, repairing local infrastructure and arranging tanker supply where required. The next key milestones are the planned canal shutdown from October 20-21, the proposed release of water on November 7 and the expected restoration of pipeline supply over the following two to three days.
