The Times of India 04.08.2012
Arsenic test now a must for housing projects
KOLKATA: After decades of denial, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is going all out to tackle the arsenic threat. It will be now mandatory for promoters in certain parts of the city to get groundwater tested for arsenic before they can submit building plans. If the test comes positive, KMC will not allow the project to go ahead.
The rule applies to housing projects on EM Bypass and added areas such as Dum Dum, Cossipore, Behala, Jadavpur and parts of Tollygunge. It was the discovery of arsenic in hand-pumps on Ghulam Mohammed Shah Road and Prince Anwar Shah Road that KMC to take this unprecedented measure.
A 14-member task force was formed on Friday to tackle the threat in areas where residents still depend on tube-wells. The team will meet once a month, said Tarak Singh, the mayoral council member in charge of groundwater.
According to the new rules, a promoter will have to apply to the state water investigation directorate (SWID) to have the groundwater tested at the proposed construction site before he can apply for building plan sanction. If the test gives the all-clear, the KMC will begin processing the application. "If the directorate gives a no-objection certificate to the promoter after examining the groundwater, we will refer it to the building department for approval," Singh said.
KMC has decided to conduct periodic checks on all 16,000 hand pumps across the city but water supply officials are particularly worried about the arsenic threat in 9,020 privately owned deep tube-wells. There are 439 other deep tube-wells that have the KMC's stamp. "We had no control over the installation of such tube-wells or the quality of groundwater. Now, we want to bring all the tube-wells, including the private ones, under our terms and conditions. We will conduct periodic examination of groundwater at these places. If arsenic is found at any such tube-well, we will seal it immediately," the MMiC said.
However, KMC is yet to seal the tube-well at Ashalata Apartment at Bikramgarh, where arsenic was found well beyond the permissible limits in separate tests conducted by KMC, SWID and the Pollution Control Board. The KMC water supply department will also charge the promoters for installation of deep tube wells, a civic official said.
Among those who attended the meeting on Friday were K J Nath, former director of All India Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, PCB chief engineer Tapas Gupta, PHE chief engineer Satya Deb Bhattacharya, G C Pati, regional director of Central Ground Water Board, and S Das, a scientist of the water investigation directorate.
