Of course doubt and dispute arose. The city is bounded by two large rivers which are dry for ten months of the year. The monsoon of July and August, a cosmically timed event, causes tremendous quantities of water to rush down from the towering Himalayas. Then the torrent ceases, the waters penetrate the soil, and in the course of ten months' time the red earth is covered throughout, in successive stages, by verdure, by the gold of the harvest, and finally by burnt vegetation. Suitable water for drinking purposes is located 80 meters below the earth's surface. Knowing this, the engineers finally declared, however only in the second or third year of the enterprise (1953-54), a rumor which had been growing: "There will be no water in Chandigarh !" That is why the contractors and city planners christened as "Boulevard des Eaux" the traffic artery which rings the city and upon which the Capitol is located; they had projected basins for rowing and sailing... 

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