THOUBAL, December 9: The water supply scheme located at Heirok part II, Litan Makhong has today been reduced to a breeding ground for diseases; the reservoirs have all dried up, instead of water, they are filled up with pebbles and dirt.
This was found during a visit to the water supply scheme by members and volunteers of the Friends in Need Society, FINE Society, Heirok part II accompanied by media persons today.
The water supply which remained malfunctioning and unused for more than 15 years had all of a sudden started supplying water. However, since it has not been used for so long, the public is getting unhygienic water which could create much bigger issues.
The society has appealed to the local MLA and the PHED minister to look into the issue and punished all those involved in supplying the unhygienic water.
During the visit the team found muddy water stored in a tank for distribution and on further enquiry it was found that it had been pumped up from the water source some five days back.
The old water reservoirs were found filled with pebbles and dirt. However what is astonishing is that the dirty water was not treated before being supplied to the public. The water pumped from the water source should be filtered and stored at the reservoir for distribution, however, what was happening at the water supply plant is that the water from the storage tank was directly supplied to the public, according to the FINE Society secretary Kh Romio.
He said the society supported by the public had been holding democratic forms of protest against the failure of the Water Supply Scheme to supply potable water to the public.
As a result, the concerned authorities had started supplying water since some days back; however, unfortunately the authorities seem to consider the public as naïve and foolish and supplied muddied untreated water to them.
This is a big deception of the public by the PHED and the Village Water and Sanitation Committee, Heirok Part II, he said questioning how the concerned authorities allowed supplying water when there is no properly maintained reservoir.
Who would take the responsibility if people fell ill after drinking the unhygienic water, he further questioned.
Since the water pipes have been lying unused and neglected for more than 15 years, the pipes are all leaking allowing drain water to enter, the hydel points along the road sides are also leaking, he said adding that it is unfortunate that the authorities concerned overlooked all these and started supplying water just because the people were agitating.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/heirok-society-bewails-unheigynic-water-supply/