The Hindu 19.01.2011
Improve drinking water quality, say residents
‘Bhavani water has an unpleasant taste'
Residents of Kavundampalayam Municipality and Vadavalli Town Panchayat have been complaining about poor water quality for the last two months.
They say that River Bhavani water quality was poor and it carried an unpleasant taste. The two local bodies have been getting the river water since June 2010 under the Kavundampalayam-Vadavalli Combined Drinking Water Scheme to meet additional drinking water requirement.
K. Kanakaraju, Secretary, Thendral Nagar Makkal Nala Sangam, said water quality had started deteriorating during the rains and had remained so.
His enquiries with the officials from the two local bodies and Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board officials revealed that the rain water muddied the area where the river water was tapped and that water quality would improve once the rains stopped.
The use of chlorine to disinfect the water had also led to the loss of taste.
He further said that the water, when boiled, resulted in formation of sediments and food cooked using Bhavani water was poor in taste. V.M. Shanmugasundaram, former president, Vadavalli Town Panchayat, said Vadavalli residents too had been getting the not-so-good quality water for the last month or so.
To fathom the reason for the fall in quality of water, a few volunteers from Thendral Nagar visited Thekkampatty, near Mettupalayam, from where the TWAD Board drew water from River Bhavani.
He said the spot where the Board drew water was polluted because of water drained out of agriculture fields and waste water discharged from a company. Effluents from a few other industries also passed through the area.
The team suggested that the TWAD Board channelize the waste water so as to divert it from the water collection point and also shift the water collection point to the centre of the river bed.
Acknowledging the problem, P. Gurusamy, Executive Engineer, TWAD Board, said rain water and waste water flowing near the collection point had somewhat impacted the water quality.
The Board had taken steps to shift the collection point and also build a channel to divert the water to take it away from the point. The Board draws 10 to 11 million litres a day and supplies it to over a lakh of residents in the two local bodies by storing the water in 19 overhead tanks. He promised that the water quality would improve in the coming days.
