The Hindu              07.08.2013

Deposit by instalment for Underground Sewerage System connection

Special Correspondent

As the much-awaited Underground Sewerage System (UGSS) got a lukewarm response with many households opting to use septic tanks or let the sewage in open drain, Ramanathapuram Municipality has decided to collect the deposit amount of Rs.7,000 for domestic connections in three instalments. Following reports that people were finding it difficult to pay the deposit of Rs.7,000 at one go, the Municipality had recently adopted a resolution, authorising the authorities to collect the deposit in three instalments for both domestic and non-domestic (Rs.15,000) consumers, A.Mathivanan, Municipal Engineer and Commissioner in-charge, said on Tuesday.

The residents were also required to spend Rs.2,500 on building an inspection chamber and pay Rs.150 towards establishment charges. Even after relaxing the payment norms, the response was poor, he said, adding that the Municipality wanted to give 10,505 connections to domestic and non-domestic consumers, and had provided 2,000 connections so far.

The residents were reluctant as almost all of them had septic tank facilities and the Municipality could not make the sewage connections mandatory for households for various reasons, he added. Launched in 2007, the ambitious UGSS project was completed in December last and the Municipality started providing connections from January this year, he said. After completing the project at a total cost of Rs.31.51 crore with the setting up of five pumping stations and two sewerage treatment plants (STP) – each with a capacity to treat 3.5 million litres of sewage – the Municipality expected good response from the public but there were not many takers, he said.

Mr.Mathivanan said the pumping stations and the STPs were functioning well.

The Hindu              07.08.2013

‘Water not potable in Vellalore’

Staff Reporter

The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board’s Regional Laboratory has said that the water at Mahalingapuram, Vellalore and Konavaikalpalayam is “chemically not potable.” The Board gave the result after testing water samples the residents gave to it on July 30.

After analysing the samples, the Board has said: “The given water sample is chemically not potable due to excess value of Total Dissolved Solids, alkalinity, total hardness, calcium hardness. And nitrate indicates recent pollution showing the evidence of contamination due to the presence of ammonia and phosphate.

The water is also unsafe as it shows the presence of coliform bacteria of faecal origini.”

In the sample lifted from Mahalingapuram, the Board found 100 units of coliform bacteria. In the Konavaikalpalayam sample, it found 10 units and in the Mahalingapuram sample it found 90 units.

Daniel Jesudoss, a resident-activist says, there is no reason for the contamination than the presence of the Coimbatore Corporation’s dump yard. The civic body has failed to process the waste and instead it just dumps the waste.

The result is that the ground water is polluted, as the result has shown. The residents have long been complaining about it and now they have proof for what they say.

He says that K.N. Rajendran of Konavaikalpalayam lifted the samples on behalf of the residents and gave it to the Board.

The residents are suffering with skin rashes, diarrhoea, breathing problems and much more – all because of the dump yard.

The residents’ demand is that the Corporation should shift the dump yard out of Vellalore.

Meanwhile, in a release, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has said that the district administration should ask the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to lift water samples in the presence of people from the places and pass on the same for test.

The administration should share the results with the people, the Coimbatore Corporation and also the Government so that the people are educated about the impact of using the water.