Extract

Water scarcity is one of the major problems in hill towns. Increasing urban population,
infrastructure development, climate change and the decrease in groundwater recharge is intensifying
water problems in hill towns. After the notification of the first hill town, Dharamshala, under a smart
city provision on dated 24th. June 2016 (Governor et al., 2016) has been taken as a case study. This may
lead to amplify the urban growth of the hilltown and resulting in an instant hike in urban population.
With this increase, its effects on water demand also get greater than before, but the resources are
static. The findings of this research highlight the diverse water supply systems of Dharamshala case and
explore the probability of tapping water sources through different ways and means. The paper also
discusses the allocation of different water resources with respect to the residents and finding the gap
between water supply and demand. The water supply stress index (WaSSI) is supposed to be used in the
study area to know about the intensity of stress which leads to frame plausible guidelines and
deliberations. The study will help in arriving at some feasible solutions to deal with the problem of
increasing demand-supply gap.

Keywords: Water supply system; smart city; urban growth; water supply stress index (WaSSI); hill towns.

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