Kolkata: Iron-free water promise for Salt Lake and surroundings
Ajanta Chakraborty | TNN | Mar 18, 2019, 05:55 IST
The reservoirs being built near Salt Lake's Tank 5.KOLKATA: The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is taking steps to end the water woes of Salt Lake and adjoining areas. The corporation is building tanks that will store surface water supplied from the New Town water treatment plant, which aims to solve problems caused by high iron content in the supply. In fact, the civic body is making plans to stop drawing groundwater altogether.
High iron content in water is known to cause rust stains and a host of health problems, most commonly hair loss. Salt Lake residents can expect to get relief in six months, when the tanks will be operational.
Two new reservoirs are being built next to Tank 13, one of them with a capacity of four million gallons, and Rajarhat’s ward 26 already has two overhead reservoirs. A fourth underground reservoir, capable of storing three million gallons, is coming up beside Tank 5. Treated water from New Town can be stored in the new reservoirs, which, after being constructed, can pipe 11 million gallons to Salt Lake and two million gallons to Rajarhat. With a summer requirement of 11 million gallons per day, Salt Lake currently draws three million gallons of groundwater that is mixed with the 7.5 million gallons of treated water from the Tallah treatment plant.
“The high iron content in the water makes us forget we live in a planned township that is characterized by its wide roads, open spaces and greenery,” rued Arunima Sanyal, a 35-yearold corporate executive living in FD block, a stone’s throw from the BMC headquarters and the East-West Metro hub.
“Residents have been trying to control the iron content by installing filters for drinking water. For other purposes, they make do with the purified water-groundwater mix. Soon, all of Salt lake, even added areas, will be getting only purified water,” MMIC, water supply, B N Biswas told TOI on Sunday.
“The network of reservoirs being built to store the extra surface water from the New Town plant should start functioning after six months,” said Swapan Maitra, executive engineer, PHE and PWD. “Residents will get 24x7 supply of the surface water. Groundwater, in limited quantity, will be drawn for emergencies. But as a rule, it won’t be mixed with the surface water,” he added.
This will also signal the end of choked ferrules in summer when residents complain of restricted water flow. BMC also intends to replace the ageing pumps in the township’s 15 tanks and a DPR of Rs 6 crore has been submitted for it.
High iron content in water is known to cause rust stains and a host of health problems, most commonly hair loss. Salt Lake residents can expect to get relief in six months, when the tanks will be operational.
Two new reservoirs are being built next to Tank 13, one of them with a capacity of four million gallons, and Rajarhat’s ward 26 already has two overhead reservoirs. A fourth underground reservoir, capable of storing three million gallons, is coming up beside Tank 5. Treated water from New Town can be stored in the new reservoirs, which, after being constructed, can pipe 11 million gallons to Salt Lake and two million gallons to Rajarhat. With a summer requirement of 11 million gallons per day, Salt Lake currently draws three million gallons of groundwater that is mixed with the 7.5 million gallons of treated water from the Tallah treatment plant.
“The high iron content in the water makes us forget we live in a planned township that is characterized by its wide roads, open spaces and greenery,” rued Arunima Sanyal, a 35-yearold corporate executive living in FD block, a stone’s throw from the BMC headquarters and the East-West Metro hub.
“Residents have been trying to control the iron content by installing filters for drinking water. For other purposes, they make do with the purified water-groundwater mix. Soon, all of Salt lake, even added areas, will be getting only purified water,” MMIC, water supply, B N Biswas told TOI on Sunday.
“The network of reservoirs being built to store the extra surface water from the New Town plant should start functioning after six months,” said Swapan Maitra, executive engineer, PHE and PWD. “Residents will get 24x7 supply of the surface water. Groundwater, in limited quantity, will be drawn for emergencies. But as a rule, it won’t be mixed with the surface water,” he added.
This will also signal the end of choked ferrules in summer when residents complain of restricted water flow. BMC also intends to replace the ageing pumps in the township’s 15 tanks and a DPR of Rs 6 crore has been submitted for it.
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