Kerala’s consuming water sources face contamination menace

By PTI

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Anithakumari S, a resident of Thrikkannapuram near Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, makes sure her family members drink boiled water although it was sourced straight from the open correctly inside the courtyard of her residence.

When the correctly was dug up spherical 26 years previously, her family and lots of people from her neighbourhood used to drink water with out boiling it.

“We used to draw very clean water from this well then. Now, we have pollution around us and water is contaminated. That is why we decided to boil the water,” acknowledged Anithakumari in her mid-40s.

Kerala Water Authority (KWA) officers, citing quite a few analysis, agreed with what Anithakumari acknowledged on the extent of contamination of the state’s water belongings.

According to them, Kerala, acknowledged for its plentiful groundwater and ground water, with 44 rivers, 1000’s of streams, lakes, and lagoons, is coping with a vital water catastrophe.

More than 80 per cent of the open wells for which the overwhelming majority of oldsters rely for consuming water, and higher than 90 per cent of rivers are contaminated with Escherichia coli (E.Coli) micro organism, they acknowledged. Officials cite quick urbanisation and pressure on land on account of density of the inhabitants as causes for such a situation.

Research carried out by the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) all through fully completely different durations, for Kerala in entire, and plenty of metropolis areas particularly has confirmed the presence of E.Coli micro organism — quite a few strains of which can set off excessive stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting — in wells and rivers and has declared them unusable with out boiling, officers acknowledged.

“Of late, these precious resources are getting contaminated by various contaminants and anthropogenic activities. Open wells in Kerala have the problem of bacteriological contamination,” a report from a analysis carried out by the CWRDM in 2019 acknowledged.

The analysis has found plenty of the dug-up wells in Kerala have faecal contamination due to poor or poorly maintained sanitation facilities.

“Our people are still unaware of the importance of keeping our water resources clean from pollution. In Kerala, we do not have a major issue with groundwater depletion but pollution is a major concern,” John V Samuel, an IAS officer and director of the Ground Water Department, Kerala acknowledged.

Officials acknowledged when water from wells is unsafe for direct consuming, open rivers pose a better risk. Last month, there have been 11 cholera cases reported in Malappuram, the place people drank water from a river.

It was later found that sewage from enterprise establishments was launched into the similar river upstream, they recognized. KWA, which offers consuming water by means of pipelines to most parts of metropolis Kerala, is spending quite a few crores to clean up this water sooner than supplying it to the oldsters.

According to KWA sources, when the comparatively cleaner water from Peppara dam in Thiruvananthapuram district is taken to Aruvikkara by means of the Karamana river for remedy, it’ll get polluted from E.Coli, heavy metals, and completely different chemical compounds.

The extreme worth involved inside the remedy of contaminated water and a extraordinarily subsidised present will shortly make it unviable for KWA to ensure an uninterrupted water present in Kerala.

For treating 1,000 litres of water, the organisation is spending Rs 22.50 and that’s geared up by means of a pipeline for merely over Rs 14 per 1,000 litres to most people, they acknowledged.

“The water from Aruvikkara Dam is treated in four treatment plants. We supply 330 to 340 million litres of water to Thiruvananthapuram city daily. The water is treated through a seven-step process to remove all contaminants from the water,” Manju Somanath, Assistant Executive Engineer and head of the remedy crops at Aruvikkara, acknowledged.

The remedy course of begins with pumping raw water into the aerator to infuse further oxygen into the water so that many contaminants are remodeled into oxides and launched from the water. It is then blended with alum and lime, based mostly totally on the turbidity and pH ranges, blended correctly with flash mixers, after which despatched to flocculation tanks the place soluble heavy contaminants are solidified and sunk.

ALSO READ | Drinking water catastrophe and assault on tribals take centre stage in Kerala House

The water is then taken to the plate settlers for eradicating of remaining contaminants, then to the sand mattress for filtration of insoluble particles.

The water is then blended with chlorine gasoline after a lab check out to ensure prime quality and pumped out for present.

A National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited lab contained within the premises checks every the raw water and the dealt with water for about 17 parameters as per World Health Organisation (WHO) suggestion every hour.

Though, KWA is taking utmost care and spending quite a few crores on the remedy of the contaminated river water sooner than supplying it, weathered pipelines with porous or broken surfaces sometimes contaminate the water in transit.

KWA has a high quality cell that collects samples from the patron end and checks them for prime quality and takes remedial measures within the occasion that they uncover contamination inside the water geared up.

This costly affair is depleting the belongings of KWA on account of poor prime quality of water pumped from the rivers in Kerala.

“We must have better management in preserving the water very seriously. Pollution is increasing day by day and it is only because of our attitude toward using water,” Samuel acknowledged.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Anithakumari S, a resident of Thrikkannapuram near Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, makes sure her family members drink boiled water although it was sourced straight from the open correctly inside the courtyard of her residence.

When the correctly was dug up spherical 26 years previously, her family and lots of people from her neighbourhood used to drink water with out boiling it.

“We used to draw very clean water from this well then. Now, we have pollution around us and water is contaminated. That is why we decided to boil the water,” acknowledged Anithakumari in her mid-40s.googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Kerala Water Authority (KWA) officers, citing quite a few analysis, agreed with what Anithakumari acknowledged on the extent of contamination of the state’s water belongings.

According to them, Kerala, acknowledged for its plentiful groundwater and ground water, with 44 rivers, 1000’s of streams, lakes, and lagoons, is coping with a vital water catastrophe.

More than 80 per cent of the open wells for which the overwhelming majority of oldsters rely for consuming water, and higher than 90 per cent of rivers are contaminated with Escherichia coli (E.Coli) micro organism, they acknowledged. Officials cite quick urbanisation and pressure on land on account of density of the inhabitants as causes for such a situation.

Research carried out by the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) all through fully completely different durations, for Kerala in entire, and plenty of metropolis areas particularly has confirmed the presence of E.Coli micro organism — quite a few strains of which can set off excessive stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting — in wells and rivers and has declared them unusable with out boiling, officers acknowledged.

“Of late, these precious resources are getting contaminated by various contaminants and anthropogenic activities. Open wells in Kerala have the problem of bacteriological contamination,” a report from a analysis carried out by the CWRDM in 2019 acknowledged.

The analysis has found plenty of the dug-up wells in Kerala have faecal contamination due to poor or poorly maintained sanitation facilities.

“Our people are still unaware of the importance of keeping our water resources clean from pollution. In Kerala, we do not have a major issue with groundwater depletion but pollution is a major concern,” John V Samuel, an IAS officer and director of the Ground Water Department, Kerala acknowledged.

Officials acknowledged when water from wells is unsafe for direct consuming, open rivers pose a better risk. Last month, there have been 11 cholera cases reported in Malappuram, the place people drank water from a river.

It was later found that sewage from enterprise establishments was launched into the similar river upstream, they recognized. KWA, which offers consuming water by means of pipelines to most parts of metropolis Kerala, is spending quite a few crores to clean up this water sooner than supplying it to the oldsters.

According to KWA sources, when the comparatively cleaner water from Peppara dam in Thiruvananthapuram district is taken to Aruvikkara by means of the Karamana river for remedy, it’ll get polluted from E.Coli, heavy metals, and completely different chemical compounds.

The extreme worth involved inside the remedy of contaminated water and a extraordinarily subsidised present will shortly make it unviable for KWA to ensure an uninterrupted water present in Kerala.

For treating 1,000 litres of water, the organisation is spending Rs 22.50 and that’s geared up by means of a pipeline for merely over Rs 14 per 1,000 litres to most people, they acknowledged.

“The water from Aruvikkara Dam is treated in four treatment plants. We supply 330 to 340 million litres of water to Thiruvananthapuram city daily. The water is treated through a seven-step process to remove all contaminants from the water,” Manju Somanath, Assistant Executive Engineer and head of the remedy crops at Aruvikkara, acknowledged.

The remedy course of begins with pumping raw water into the aerator to infuse further oxygen into the water so that many contaminants are remodeled into oxides and launched from the water. It is then blended with alum and lime, based mostly totally on the turbidity and pH ranges, blended correctly with flash mixers, after which despatched to flocculation tanks the place soluble heavy contaminants are solidified and sunk.

ALSO READ | Drinking water catastrophe and assault on tribals take centre stage in Kerala House

The water is then taken to the plate settlers for eradicating of remaining contaminants, then to the sand mattress for filtration of insoluble particles.

The water is then blended with chlorine gasoline after a lab check out to ensure prime quality and pumped out for present.

A National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited lab contained within the premises checks every the raw water and the dealt with water for about 17 parameters as per World Health Organisation (WHO) suggestion every hour.

Though, KWA is taking utmost care and spending quite a few crores on the remedy of the contaminated river water sooner than supplying it, weathered pipelines with porous or broken surfaces sometimes contaminate the water in transit.

KWA has a high quality cell that collects samples from the patron end and checks them for prime quality and takes remedial measures within the occasion that they uncover contamination inside the water geared up.

This costly affair is depleting the belongings of KWA on account of poor prime quality of water pumped from the rivers in Kerala.

“We must have better management in preserving the water very seriously. Pollution is increasing day by day and it is only because of our attitude toward using water,” Samuel acknowledged.