Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided that all deep tube wells will be removed from KMC areas so that there is no threat from arsenic-contaminated water. Instead of deep tube well purified pipe-lined drinking water will be supplied to all the residents in the KMC areas.
Recently, the State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Power Minister Manish Gupta and Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were present during the inauguration of a five lakh gallon underground reservoir and a 11 lakh gallon raised reservoir of Jai Hind Water Project at Mukundapur.
Recently, in one of the biggest water projects ever considered in Kolkata, the KMC plans to link two of its major water pumping stations through a 70-km-long pipeline, creating a ‘water grid’ that will not only end the city’s water woes in five years but also prepare it for the future.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation has submitted the proposal to the State Government. It will cost a Rs 1,400 crore -roughly Rs 20 crore per kilometre of pipeline -but ensure uninterrupted supply of filtered water to every home even in the added areas and protect groundwater from further depletion. The plan is to link Palta waterworks near Barrack pore with the Garden Reach water treatment plant in the south-western part of the city. Once, the integration is complete, KMC will impose a complete ban on withdrawal of groundwater.
