Deccan Chronicle       30.06.2010

June 29: The Metro Water Board and Chennai Corporation have appalled health experts by deciding to increase chlorination levels in public water supply to 10 ppm, which is 6 ppm more than the safe limit prescribed by the Central Public Health Organisation.

This knee-jerk reaction of the civic bodies to the recent outbreak of diarrhoea in many areas may end up being a cure that is worse than the disease. Experts point out that an increase in residual chlorination (RC) levels may cause serious health risks such as stomach disorder and related complications.

On June 3, a joint meeting chaired by corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) managing director Shivdas Meena was convened to devise a coordinated strategy to combat diarrhoea.

The meeting decided to maintain 10 ppm (parts per million) of residual chlorine at water distribution stations and the following day, superintending engineers instructed the field engineers to comply with the new RC level.

Complaints of chlorine odour and frequent stomach disorder complaints had been pouring in at the local office, CMWSSB field engineers revealed. Though the civic bodies claim that the chlorine content would come down to nearly 2 ppm when it reaches the tail end, the truth is that most people would have consumed highly chlorinated water by then.

“When the RC level increases to 10ppm, water loses its palatability and starts to emanate the odour of chlorine,” said noted health activist and DASE founder G. Ravindranath.

Deccan Chronicle       29.06.2010

Meet generates 200 tonnes of trash

June 28: The five-day world classical Tamil conference that ended Sunday saw nearly 200 tonnes of garbage being generated.

For the Coimbatore corporation, the challenge was to showcase the city in all its glory. It had put in place a garbage disposal system to achieve this objective, along with a host of other measures. “We did not want to expose the delegates to any health hazards,” said a corporation official. By Monday, most of the garbage had been cleared, but work was on to give the Codissia venue a cleaner look.

For five days, the civic body staff worked overtime to ensure that about 40 tonnes of garbage collected every day was disposed of properly by night. Though litter bins were placed at many points at the venue, several visitors ignored them.

The civic body’s commissioner, Anshul Mishra, said that the waste was disposed of at Vellalur. About 400 workers were deployed around the venue and other vantage points to ensure that there was no pile up of garbage. Plates, cups, papers, food waste, plastic bottles and flowers formed most of the garbage. These were collected in bio-bags.

Since the city does not have a recycling facility, unsegregated municipal waste was collected and dumped in a yard specifically created for it.

“We will be scientifically closing the dump yard with the help of liners formed out of geotextiles and clay. First, we will lay the liners and then garbage will be dumped on that. When it is full, we will cover it with gravel, sand, clay and geotextiles so that the waste does not seep into the earth and harm the environment,” said Mr Mishra.

With funds from the Tamil Manadu Health and Sanitation fund, the area has been cleaned and the garbage collected in Peelamedu by the corporation is being taken to the yard by UPA VIVL, a public private partnership.