Boost for filtered water supply

KOLKATA: New Town Kolkata Development Authority ( NKDA) is all set to add 5MGD filtered water to its existing supply of 20 MGD.

Three new filter beds were given a trial run on Monday in presence of NKDA chairman Debashis Sen and other senior officials. Once commissioned, four MGD would be supplied to Salt Lake and 2 MGD to Nabadiganta ( Sector V).

After coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had held a meeting with Subrata Mukherjee, state minister for Panchayats and Rural Development department and Public Health Engineering along with other senior officials and urged them to find out ways and means to provide filtered water to New Town.

There were hand tubewells in New Town and Rajarhat and several bodies had requested the state government to do away with them as the area was situated close to Barasat where some pockets were Arsenic contaminated. It was then decided that unfiltered water would be lifted from Devendrabala ghat in north Kolkata and taken to New Town for filtration by an underground pipe. This was against the usual practice that the filtration bay and lifting station should exist side by side.

Unfiltered water from river Hooghly is lifted and taken to New Town covering a distance of 16.5 km. When commissioned the drinking water problem in some pockets in Salt Lake would be ironed out.