People in the Imphal west district and adjoining areas will not get treated water because the main source of raw water, the rivers, have gone bone dry.

An official notification said that the water level at the Singda dam had gone down alarmingly. It supplies potable water to vast areas, including Imphal city.

For a long time consumers have been depending on the bottled ‘mineral water’. A 20-litre jar of this water is sold at ₹50. On the other hand, private traders have been delivering raw water to houses at ₹250 per one thousand litres. Several businessmen store river water in the giant underground tanks and sell it to the increasing number of water tanker drivers.

One driver, Tomcha Khuman, said, “We used to get water at reasonable prices from the businessmen. However, as the main water sources had dried up we are paying more and have to join the long queue of water tankers”.

Samples of some “mineral water” were found to be “injurious to health” by government officials, it is said. However, no businessmen had been pulled up.

Officials said that there would be no improvement in the situation till the onset of rains around April.