2 weeks Ago By Alim Shaikh
1 2 3 Pune: Residents of several areas in Pimpri Chinchwad have raised concerns over the unclean civic water supply being received over the last two weeks. They claim the water smells foul, and many have stopped using it for drinking purposes due to health fears. Natha Raut, a resident of Anshul Ela Housing Society in Moshi, told TOI, "We have raised this issue with Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) officials on multiple occasions in the last fortnight, but there has been no resolution so far.
Water supplied by PCMC is muddy and stinks, so many of us have stopped using it for drinking purposes." Raut added that his society has residents in 182 flats across two wings, all of whom depend on PCMC for drinking water supply. "Though most of the flat owners have water filters installed in their houses, they are still worried about the quality of supply," he said.
Sanjeevan Sangle, chairman of the Chikhali Moshi Pimpri Chinchwad Housing Societies Federation, has also written a letter to municipal commissioner Shekhar Singh, demanding an immediate solution to this problem. He asserted that residents will organise a protest march if the civic body fails to address the problem in the next four days. "The issue of unclean water is not limited to Chikhali and Moshi.
Several areas of the twin cities have witnessed this in the last three to four weeks. It is happening for the first time — we always received good quality water from PCMC in the past. The current civic supply of water is not clean and may cause a major health issue among residents.
Immediate steps need to be taken to tackle the matter," Sangle said. The residents' fears are compounded by the outbreak of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) in certain parts of Pune earlier this year, much of which has been attributed to contaminated water supply. It may also be noted that Pimpri Chinchwad residents already get alternate day water supply from PCMC.
During the summer, this supply is inadequate, and many housing societies are forced to depend on water tankers to fulfil their needs for the vital resource. A senior PCMC official said unclean water reports are limited to parts of Moshi and Chikhali, particularly areas that get water supply from Andra dam, which is treated at the Chikhali water treatment facility. He told TOI, "Pollution in Andra river has increased in the last few days, and the current procedure followed to purify the water at PCMC's treatment facility is not enough to do so completely.
We cannot increase the chemical level to purify the water as that too is prohibited and harmful. The only thing left to do in this situation is to now flush the dam to remove sediments. But the irrigation department is carrying out maintenance works near Nighoje Dam from where PCMC lifts water, so it is not possible to carry out this exercise right away.
" He added, "However, irrigation department officials have informed that their maintenance work will be completed in around a week's time. We expect this issue to get solved thereafter.".
