BMC wakes up to water contamination

With a rising number of complaints of water contamination, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) water department has been instructed to take at least 1,000 water samples every day, which will be increased to 1,500 gradually. 

The department, which handles complaints of water contamination, will look into the reasons of the contamination and will also plug the problem.

The civic water department usually collects around 250 samples from different areas. The samples are collected after officials received complaints from citizens.

In June, the BMC received 5,419 complaints, the highest being from the D Ward (Girgaum, Nana Chowk, Tardeo, Peddar Road, Malabar Hill, Walkeshwar and Haji Ali).

Out of these complaints, 911 samples were tested positive and found to be contaminated, while 87 samples were found with the presence of E-coli, which is the main source of waterborne diseases.

According to sources, the department is planning to take random water samples, covering most of the areas in the city and the suburbs.

Since this would be a difficult task with the present quantity of staff and labourers in the department, the BMC will outsource the job to a private company, while the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) will look after the technical expertise.

Moreover, the department is also planning to upgrade its laboratory at the G-south ward office, to get faster results of the water samples tested.

 “Presently the test reports are only available the next day after the water samples reach the laboratory. But with the upgradation of the infrastructure of the civic laboratory, the test reports will be available by evening,” said a senior civic official.

NEERI will help them with all engineering and technical support for setting up the upgraded laboratory and also with the supervision during the initial period.

“We are looking forward to have a detailed investigation programme for the water testing. This will help us in the days to come,” said a senior official, adding that the budget allocation for the upgradation has been made in the current year.