Urban News

The Deccan Chronicle  08.09.2010

Sept. 7: Erratic water supply could become a thing of the past on the fringes of the metropolis if everything the Chennai Metro Water has planned for the proposed ‘greater’ Chennai comes true. Identifying new water sources to meet the water requirements of greater Chennai is the biggest challenge Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board (CMWSSB) is currently facing.

CMWSSB has projected its overall water requirement to shoot up to 2,248 mld (million litres per day) once the existing 174 sq km city corporation is expanded to 426 sq km, bringing nine municipalities, eight town panchayats and 25 village panchayats under MWSSB.

It is estimated that the 12 tmcft annual Krishna water supply (the city has not received more than 7.5 tmcft from Kandaleru even once) plus the 100 mld water from desalination plants in Minjur and Nemmeli, besides water from the four reservoirs in Poondi, Puzhal, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam would jointly take its capacity to 1,900 mld, over 300 mld short of greater Chennai’s requirements.

CMWSSB has awarded the work to Shah Technical Consultants to identify 15 tmcft of water in a year. The consultant would submit a report of the techno-economical feasibility study by March 2011, a senior CMWSSB official, requesting anonymity, told DC. The study would explore options like identification of ground and surface water sources around Chennai and far-off places, he elaborated. The economic and technical probability of conveying water from distant places would also be considered.

As regards the shortage, capacity expansion of water sources would be carried out in a phased manner at the rate of 5 tmcft, sources added. The water storage and supply capacity of CMWSSB would literally be doubled if the desired 15 tmcft materialises, water managers point out.

The Hindu       07.09.2010

Steps on to enforce ban on water sachets in Ambur

Serena Josephine. M

AMBUR: The Ambur Municipality is taking steps to effectively enforce the ban on sale of drinking water packets in its limits. Last week, officials of the local body conducted surprise checks on three agencies which stocked drinking water sachets and has lifted samples for testing from one agency.

“The ban on water sachets has been in place for sometime now. We had also announced that water sachets should not be sold in the municipal limits. We received a letter from the government last week instructing us to inspect the manufacturing units of water packets and lift samples for testing,” an official of the municipality said.

He pointed out that only sale of packaged drinking water in cans is approved and not sachets.

However, some manufacturers sell the water packets with the ISI seal on them.

“There is no manufacturing unit here. Three stockists for the water sachets were found in the municipal limits and surprise checks were carried out at the agencies last week,” he said.

The officials lifted samples from one agency, while the other two said they would return the sachets and promised to stop buying stocks in future, he added.

To ensure safety of food supplied in hotels and other eateries, the municipality is conducting surprise checks at food establishments.

“There are a total of 486 food establishments in our limits. This includes tea shops, hotels and petty shops selling food. We started to conduct the inspections last week. Three hotels have been checked and a sample has been lifted from one hotel. It has been sent to the public health laboratory at Thanjavur. If found adulterated, further step on the hotel will be decided,” he said.

Checks will continue

These checks at hotels will continue, he added.

The municipality has advised the food establishments not to use non-permitted food colours for non-vegetarian recipes. It has asked hotels to supply hot water to customers and not to re-use oil, the official said.

“We check for hygiene in the cooking place at these establishments. It should be well white-washed and contain good vessels for cooking. More importantly, we have insisted that the food handlers at these establishments should get medical certificates from doctors. These certificates should be produced during inspections,” he said.

The local body was also planning to impose a ban on use of plastics soon, officials said.