KOCHI: They have wells here. But the pollutants seeping into the ground water have made the water in these wells unfit for human consumption.
“Though we have a well on our land its water is not fit for consumption. Earlier, we used to use it for other household needs but now we have stopped that too,” said Shabeer, an Eloor native. Making matters worse, the free drinking water scheme, which covers around 3,000 families and over 10,000 people, is in troubled waters now. The residents here allege that the Kerala Water Authority is charging them `20,000 to `1 lakh in lieu of water charge. As per the directions of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, the industrial units functioning at Eloor, which are responsible for polluting the water bodies, have to provide 500 litres of water per day free of charge to the families residing in the nine wards here, as per the Polluter Pay Principle.
“The survey for the free drinking water project in 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 29,30,31 wards was held in 2002, under the Polluter Pay Principle. The water supply started in 2007. The cost for this was to be divided into seven equal parts, of which FACT had to bear two parts and the remaining five was to be equally shared by HIL, IRE, Merchem, BSES and Hindalco. The drinking water supply programme had faced many hurdles right from the beginning. The latest is the non-payment of dues by companies for the free water supply. Now the residents in these nine wards are being slapped with exorbitant water bills,” said Jacon Laser, who was a member of the Monitoring Committee.
Residents allege that now they are being supplied water from Muttar river, which is also polluted. Recently, FACT sent a notice to PCB and Eloor municipality seeking payment of the amount which was due to it from the other companies.
“Though a project proposal to lay KWA pipeline to FACT for the supply of drinking water was in the pipeline, it is learnt that even the estimate for the said project has not been prepared,” said Shabeer.