Drink from the backwaters!
Tags:
Despite being surrounded by water bodies, the city continues to be troubled by scarcity of drinking water for almost two decades now.
According to experts, a large quantity of river water that can be converted into drinking water, is not being put to proper use.
According to an earlier study by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), at least 3,105 million litres of fresh water is flowing into the Arabian Sea every day through the four branches of the Periyar. And the city’s average requirement of potable water is about 480 MLD.
The study, commission-ed by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), revealed that a large amount of water is wasted, especially during the monsoon when the state receives excess rain.
“During the low tide, water from rivers flow to the Arabian Sea.
This can be purified and used as drinking water. Pollutan-ts, including minerals and heavy metals can be rem-oved through the process called reverse osmosis. In Gulf countries, even sea water is converted into potable water through this process,” said Siva-das B.
Menon, an expert on the subject. “As the city’s water requirements are increasing rapidly ev-ery year, the authorities should consider innovati-ve concepts like setting up reverse osmosis plants”.
According to K.J. Sohan, chairman of the town pla-nning committee of the corporation, instead of considering mega drinking water projects, which involve land acquisition and huge funding, authorities should set up plants to purify river water flowing to the sea through the backwaters.
“The river water flowing through the backwaters can be used for drinking water purposes by employing standard water purification methods,” he said.
Ban on tankers from collecting Periyar water
District collector P.I. Sheikh Pareeth on Tuesday banned those tankers collecting water from sources other than the 27 sources identified by the health department. The banned water sources include the River Periyar.
The water resources department will also provide drinking water on payment of `30 for 1000 litres. The new proposals will be effective from Wednesday, the collector said.
The district administration has also banned the supply of tanker water after 10 pm at night. There will be joint inspection by police, RTO and Revenue officials to monitor whether the tankers and the owners of water sources are sticking to the specifications stipulated recently by the district administration.
The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the district collector, where deputy police commissioner T. Gopalakrishna Pillai, RTO T.J. Thomas and various department officials were present.
Post new comment