BENGALURU: Faced with a barrage of criticism and complaints over water contamination in many parts of the city, the water board is now taking steps to set up a lab at Tataguni to monitor water quality.
Tataguni is the final pumping station before Cauvery water from Thoraikadanahalli (TK Halli) reservoir is supplied across the city. In addition, two more labs will be set up in East and West Bengaluru to facilitate testing of water samples.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) chairman Tushar Girinath said, “We want to assess if any contamination takes place when it is pumped to the city or at the stage of distribution. Hence, we decided to have this testing facility at Tataguni so that we can carry out tests before the process of distribution begins.”
Tataguni is located 22 km away from the city. As much as 1,450 million litres of water is pumped daily for a distance of nearly 100 km from Shiva Anaicut via Thoraikadanahalli (TK Halli), Harohalli and Tataguni pumping stations to cater to the requirements of Bengaluru.
Engineer-in-Chief Kemparamaiah said the water board already has two testing labs at High Grounds and Jayanagar. “We will open two more, one most probably at Indiranagar to cater to the eastern parts of the city, and another at Malleswaram so that testing of water in the western parts of the city can be done easily. It is proving difficult to carry samples from one end of the city to the other for water testing,” he said.
BWSSB chief engineer E Nithyananda Kumar told TNIE, “A Water Quality Management Plan has been prepared. It is yet to be given approval. Details will be shared after that.”
BWSSB told to pay up
The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission has ordered the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to pay a compensation of Rs 6,400 to the Nisarga Layout Welfare Association in Doddanekundi for supplying contaminated water to them. Water Board assistant engineer Lokesh conceded that there was a lapse on their part and the contami nation was the result of damage caused to the water supply line by people carrying out work for the Gas Authority of India Limited.