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Water Supply

FACT to continue water supply scheme in Eloor municipality

Tuesday, 28 December 2010 02:20 administrator
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The Hindu      28.12.2010

FACT to continue water supply scheme in Eloor municipality

Staff Reporter

Scheme to be continued for another year

16 lakh litres of water supplied a day

KOCHI: The Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) will continue its water supply scheme in Eloor municipality for one more year. The scheme was set to expire on January 15.

The decision was taken following an assurance given by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) at a meeting convened by the board on Monday that it would collect the dues owed by three other public sector companies associated with the scheme to FACT.

KSPCB also promised steps to ensure prompt contribution by the companies towards the scheme in future as well, FACT sources said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has been asked to speed up the commissioning of its new water supply scheme, enabling it to eventually replace the FACT scheme, KSPCB sources said.

Under the scheme launched two years ago, FACT with the support of Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL), Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE), and Merchem had been supplying about 16 lakh litres of water a day benefitting 3,000-odd households in Eloor municipality. The understanding had been to continue this arrangement till January 15, after which the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) would take over and source the water.

FACT sources said that the scheme costs Rs.5 lakh a month, which was to be shared equally between the four participating companies. However, the other three participating companies collectively ran up a total arrears of Rs.27.83 lakh, they said. This forced FACT to consider discontinuing the scheme after the cut-off date of January 15.

FACT had indeed written to the KSPCB and Eloor municipality to relieve it of the responsibility of supplying water. This prompted the KSPCB to convene the meeting to discuss the issue.

With KWA unable to replace the scheme in the prevailing circumstances, there was no other alternative but to urge FACT to continue the service.

KWA would be able to replace the FACT scheme only on commissioning its Goshree Islands Development Authority-backed water supply scheme meant for Varapuzha and Kadamakudy by sourcing water from Muppathadam. Administrative sanction had been received for the scheme and now the works remain to be awarded.

Once the project is completed, it would enable KWA to use the water being pumped from Kalamassery under the Kochi water supply scheme exclusively for Eloor. Right now the water from Kalamassery is being split between Eloor and Varapuzha leaving both regions short of drinking water, sources said.

The meeting was attended by representatives of KSPCB, KWA, Eloor municipality, and four participating companies.

 

Pipeline replacement to save 50,000 litres of water a day

Friday, 24 December 2010 08:54 administrator
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The Hindu       24.12.2010

Pipeline replacement to save 50,000 litres of water a day

Staff Reporter
BWSSB chief says work will be completed within 20 days


Brisk pace:Work in progress to replace pipelines on Hosur Road in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board's (BWSSB) work on replacing old pipelines on a three-km stretch from Wilson Garden 10th Cross to Dairy Circle flyover may be affecting traffic on the busy road. But once completed, the new pipelines will check wastage of 50,000 litres of water that was literally going down the drain every day because of leakages.

BWSSB Chairman P.B. Ramamurthy, who inspected the work on Thursday, told The Hindu that the pipes had become rusty and corroded as they were laid almost 40 years ago. “We were receiving a lot of complaints from residents of Lakkasandra and Wilson Garden about low pressure and irregular supply to houses located in elevated areas. This was because of the leaky old pipes,” he said.

Pointing out that the cast iron pipes were now being replaced with mild steel and ductile iron pipes (3 km of water lines and 250 metres of sanitary line) at a cost of Rs. 1.5 crore, Mr. Ramamurthy said the new lines would ensure there are no problems for the next 15 years. Alternative arrangements had been made to ensure that water supply to the areas was not affected, he said.

Seven earth movers and 35 workers are working round the clock to complete the work within the 20-day deadline, he said.

Mr. Ramamurthy was accompanied by the area corporators and BWSSB engineers.

Road users and people staying in neighbouring areas were irked by the work and the resultant inconvenience, especially the dust and traffic jams. Prasanna Kumar, who lives near Lalbagh, said he had to park his vehicle at some point and walk for a distance to get to his place.

Meghana Gowda had to get down and walk from Dairy Circle up to NIMHANS as autorickshaws refused to ply on the stretch.

Panting and puffing, Ms. Gowda blamed the civic authorities for creating the inconvenience.

 

Water table shrinking, High Court bans use of borewells

Thursday, 23 December 2010 11:21 administrator
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The Hindu      23.12.2010

Water table shrinking, High Court bans use of borewells

Vineet Gill, TNN, Dec 23, 2010, 03.27am IST
 
GURGAON: The Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a complete ban on borewells and has asked the administration not to give out permits for the same without consultation with the court. The order comes barely a week after officials of the public health department predicted that at the current rate of consumption, Gurgaon will run out of groundwater by 2040.

The court has also made possession of illegal borewells a criminal offence, and the violators will henceforth be booked under sections of the IPC.

Acknowledging that illegal extraction of groundwater using borewells has contributed heavily to the decline in the groundwater table, the administration is now bracing up for a comprehensive drive against illegal borewells in Gurgoan.

It has constituted six teams, which will carry out regular surveys of the city and will also be responsible for rounding up offenders.

Deputy Commissioner R K Kataria said that after the court's orders, he is no longer authorized to give out permissions for borewells, and that people who use and possess illegitimate borewells will be booked under sections of the IPC and not the environment court as was the case earlier.

"We have already arrested three people in the last two days near Palam Vihar," said Kataria.

In 2008, the DC, along with a committee comprising officials of HUDA, DTCP, HSIIDC and MCG, were given the charge of issuing permits for borewells.

"Only borewells required for drinking water purposes were allowed. But now the court has put a stay on that," said Kataria.

He said that while earlier illegal borewells were merely impounded and no action was taken against owners, from now on the violators will be booked under Section 188 of the IPC.

Kataria added that the drive has been intensified now, and that more arrests will soon follow.

"If we get any reports of illegal extraction of groundwater, we will act promptly. I have also spoken to the commissioner of police about this, and asked him to convey the matter to his SHOs," said Kataria.

The new teams put together by the DC comprise officials from all branches the HSIIDC, MCG, DTCP, HUDA and the pollution control board and the hydrologist of the ground water cell in Gurgaon has been made the nodal officer.

"The teams will take stock of the number of borewells in different areas and will act accordingly," said Kataria. Currently more than 1,000 applications asking for bore-well permits are pending with the administration.

The pollution control board of Gurgaon had registered three FIRs on Tuesday, which led to the arrests. Regional officer of the HSPCB, Pradeep Yadav, said that they are awaiting more such cases to come to light so that the offenders could be brought to book.

"The builders and colonizers should make sure that no illegal borewells are used in their areas. Apart from that, it is also necessary that water supply is made more efficient in the industrial and also the commercial areas of the city so that local residents do not depend too heavily on extracting water from underground," said Yadav.

The move, say experts, will help check the fast-receding level of the regions groundwater table.
 
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