The Hindu 19.09.2013
BWSSB to HC: will provide tankers to areas with contaminated borewells
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on
Wednesday told the Karnataka High Court that it would supply potable
water through tankers in areas where borewell water was found to be
unfit for consumption.
The BWSSB gave this
information to a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela
and Justice B.V. Nagarathna while hearing a
suo motu
public interest litigation (PIL) petition initiated by the court based
on newspaper reports on contaminated drinking water in many parts of the
city.
Water in 169 borewells in 110 villages (that
were now part of the BBMP) was found to be unsuitable for drinking
following tests conducted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP) recently. As short-term arrangement, the BWSSB counsel said that
water would be supplied using tankers with a 6000-litre capacity in
these areas.
Chlorination
“We
have 30 tankers and will supply water twice or thrice a day. In the
meanwhile, we will undertake chlorination exercise in other borewells,”
the counsel added.
The BWSSB also told the court that
at least 10 thousand million cubic (tmc) feet of water, in addition to
an existing 19 tmc ft of water, is required to supply drinking water
from the Cauvery project to these areas and a detailed project report in
this regard had been submitted to the State government. The court will
hear the petition again on November 7.
