BMC has come up with policy guidelines for regular cleaning of underground or overhead water storage tanks of housing societies. (File Photo) TO PREVENT water contamination at the user end, the BMC has come up with policy guidelines for regular cleaning of underground or overhead water storage tanks of housing societies, commercial buildings or any other government and non-government premises and then testing water from cleaned tanks. The policy guidelines now mandate all such agencies that take up the job of cleaning water storage tanks will have to register with the BMC and appoint a supervisor having qualification up to Class XII with a background in science.
According to guidelines, these water tanks have to be cleaned twice a year. For cleaning, tanks should be empty first, using jet tank cleaning should be done and later the agency should use chlorine powder or liquid for deworming the tank. “After cleaning is completed, the society or building representatives will have to collect the water samples and get it tested to check for contamination from municipal water testing laboratory. The charges for the testing will have to be paid by the society, state the BMC guidelines. The society or buildings should maintain records of water quality test results.
The move comes after the civic body noted many cases of water contamination complaints from residential or commercial buildings that were mainly caused by poor cleaning of water storage tanks.
“Although water supplied from municipal pipelines are checked for contamination regularly, building tanks are not looked after properly,” said an officer from hydraulic engineering department. In Mumbai, from BMC’s water supply pipelines are connected with buildings underground or overhead water tanks. From these tanks, residents get their drinking water daily.
According to the BMC’s Environment Status Report of 2011-12, water contamination in city was 17 per cent, which has been brought down to 0.7 per cent in 2019-20 by taking various safety and corrective measures. However, the civic body receives many complaints of water contamination, especially during monsoon. Officials said these complaints were due to poor cleaning of storage tanks of buildings. There are several agencies in the city who take up water tank cleaning works in the city. However, they are not registered with the BMC.