Bhopal: Water scarcity at Shankracharya Homes in Baghsevaniya has forced its 80 families to consume unsafe red water leading to stomach infection and other ailments. With Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) failing to meet the required demand, over 400 residents of the colony are depending on borewell, the water of which is not fit for the consumption.
Red water is the generic term for water with high-particulate iron concentrations due to corrosion by-product release. It is a common water quality-related customer complaint, as it causes tap water with objectionable tastes, odour and staining. High iron concentrations in the source water can cause red water problems, while leaks can be caused by corrosive soil acting on the outside of the pipes as well as by corrosive water acting on the inside of the pipes.
Colony resident, Retd. divisional forest officer, R P Sharma told Free Press, that water being supplied by civic body is too less to meet the daily requirement of the housing society. The residents so now have to depend on borewell which has red water. Consumption of unsafe red water has led to various stomach issues and many people of the society have complained about it, he added.
“What to do? We have no option. We are compelled to consume contaminated water after missing it with Narmada water h. We have complained and written over 50 letters to Mayor, BMC officials and engineers but to no avail,” said Sharma expressing utter helplessness.
The 66-year-old forest officer further said, “We have personal borewell, but since its water was red we applied for bulk Narmada water connection in January 2012 and paid Rs 2.70 lakh to BMC in July 2015. Finally we got connections in April14, 2016.”
But the water being supplied by BMC is not sufficient to meet the requirement of the residents. So now we are pumping red water from the borewell and using it too, said Sharma. There are 80 family and around 400 residents in our colony so as per the norm, we should get 750 litre water per family, but BMC instead of supplying 60000 litre water, is only providing 12000 litre water for the entire society, said Sharma.
Water meter installed by BMC is also faulty as around Rs 180 is being charged from each family per month, besides the civic body is not regular in supplying water so we have to call private water tankers, he Sharma. Looking at the water scenario, we got another 615 ft deep borewell dug but unfortunately even its water is also red, Sharma said disappointedly. We didn’t get any complaint regarding this neither personal nor in Mayor Chopual. We must take action, if we get such complaint.
