To check arsenic spread, KMC to do away with deep tubewells

Kolkata: In a bid to ensure arsenic free water in the city, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the next one-and-a-half years will ensure that there is no deep tubewell in the city, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said on Monday.

"There are still some deep tubewells in the city particularly in some of the added areas of the city. We have checked with the experts and I can assure you that the arsenic factor is nothing alarming.

However, we are taking necessary measures to ensure that there is supply of potable drinking water to every single household in the city.

It will take another 18 months' time and then we will pull down all the existing tubewells in the city,"

Chatterjee said responding to a poser by Left Front councillor Chayan Bhattacharjee on steps taken by the civic body to keep arsenic under permissible standards at the monthly session on Monday.

Chatterjee maintained that the KMC has made arrangements for ensuring that there is sufficient water in store for the citizens.

"Now, we are working on augmenting the distribution system. There will be certain areas in Joka, ward 1 to 6 of North Kolkata and some parts of Behala and EM Bypass where we are creating infrastructure for round the clock water supply. In the other places, there will be supply of water for

12 hours," he added.

The Mayor further stated that there was a time in early 2000 when KMC was flooded with appeals of tubewells by councillors from areas like Jadavpur, Topsia, Tiljala and Behala.

However, the situation has changed drastically. "We are undertaking work for a 40-metre underground pipeline to supply water from Garden Reach which will ensure supply of potable water to every household in Jadavpur, Survey Park, Layelka, Ranikuthi etc," he maintained.

It may be mentioned that the civic body in the last few years have undertaken constructions of a number of booster pumping stations and water treatment

plants across the city for ensuring water to every single household.

'In places where there is paucity of space, we are going to construct semi-booster pumping station to ensure that there is no existence of any deep tubewell in the city," the Mayor said.

It may be mentioned that the KMC is armed with a loan of Rs 1,300 crore from the Asian Development Bank, with which it has prepared a roadmap to refurbish the water supply and drainage networks across the city .

Of the loan amount, Rs 450 crore will be spend on strengthening distribution network of filtered water supply.