Neighbours reporting which mohallas in Leh have dry taps right now, so you can tell whether it is just your house or the whole area — and PHE's line to call.
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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/leh-ladakh-in/dry-taps
A dry tap in Leh is ordinary enough that it is not the useful question. The town draws about 6.07 million litres a day against a demand nearer 7.5, and more than four fifths of that now comes up out of boreholes rather than down from the mountains. PHE's piped network does most of its work in a few summer months; through the winter the lines freeze and tankers take over. And in summer the population more than triples, so the same supply is spread across three times the people. When your tap runs dry, then, what you actually want to know is whether it is just your house — a frozen service line, an empty roof tank, your own pump — or the whole mohalla.
That is what this board is for. Tap your area to say the taps are dry there. Reports clear themselves after about a day, so what you see is what people are reporting now. It is neighbours telling each other, not a PHE notice and not a complaint — to get water, or to report a burst line, call PHE below.
No dry taps reported right now.
Old Town
No reports · the lanes under the Palace, above the Main Bazaar
These reports come from neighbours, not the water utility. Anyone can read the board; reporting dry taps takes a free account, which keeps it honest. A report clears itself after about 24 hours, so the board stays current on its own. When several people report the same area, it’s likely the whole area is dry — not just one tap.
Reporting a water problem to PHE Division Leh
The Executive Engineer, PHE Division Leh handles drinking water and tanker supply for the town; the number above is the one the district administration publishes for that office. The circle office above it, PHE/I&FC Circle Leh, is on 9419176480. There is no published outage page or notice feed for Leh's water supply, which is part of why this board exists.
Leh is a cold desert: about 35 mm of precipitation falls in a year, so almost none of the town's water arrives as rain. It has always come from snowmelt, carried down to fields and orchards in open channels — the kuls — and from springs. The springs are the part that has changed. A 2019 town study found that the springs inside Leh town itself had dried up, which it attributed to groundwater extraction. The town went from about 10 borewells in 1997 to roughly 2,659 by 2020, and more than 80% of its water is now pumped up rather than flowing down. What is left is a mix: PHE's piped network, spring schemes such as Gyalung above Gangles, the Indus, public tube wells and a great many private borewells.
That is why unapproved borewells have been illegal in ten areas — Gonpa Gangles, Sankar, Yourtong, Leh, Skara, Choglamsar, Saboo, Spituk, Phey and Phyang — since 1 December 2024, with approval having to come from the district administration.
One thing to keep separate from supply: a study of Leh town found nitrate at 55 mg/l against the Indian drinking-water standard of 45, blamed on soak pits dug too close to borewells. Whether water is safe to drink is a question for PHE and the health department, not for this board.