Water still foul-smelling: residents

VADODARA, Dec 15:The water crisis in the Alkapuri area continued today, with residents having to put up with a foul smell, though the Vad...

VADODARA, Dec 15:The water crisis in the Alkapuri area continued today, with residents having to put up with a foul smell, though the Vadodara Municipal Corporation said it had rectified the fault causing the problems. The week-long crisis has been caused by sewage mixing with potable water due to faulty pipes.

Executive Engineer of ward number 6 F Charpot said that no contamination was reported from samples taken on Tuesday. However, he said he could not guarantee that there would be no contamination in future. The possibility of faults in other nearby areas is also being checked, he said, adding that the extent of water pipelines having rusted will be studied and, if necessary, a recommendation will be made to higher authorities for replacing the line.Charpot pointed out that executive engineers had the power to carry out maintenance works of up to Rs 80,000; powers to deal with figures beyond that lie with the additional city engineer and the city engineer.

VMC8217;s public analyst Subhashchandra Shah said of the 11 water samples taken on Monday from Alkapuri, three, including that taken from Express Hotel, tested positive for ammonia. Potable water should not have ammonia content, which is usually found in sewage, he added. He also said that contamination was detected in several samples taken from the area, including the Navrang Apartment.

Meanwhile, the residents continued to spend money on water tankers during the day; those with bore-well facilities were better off. The Fire Brigade water tanker also made rounds along the the stretch between Darpan Apartment and Hotel Kaviraj, on R C Dutt Road.

8220;I have been suffering for more than a week,8221; Pravin Desai, a resident of the area, told Express Newsline. He said he and his family had spent a lot of time and effort cleaning the water tank and refilling water from the tanker.

While the VMC disconnected several connections as a precautionary measure, many including Desai and the Express Hotel shut the main valve bringing in VMC water.

Pushpa Rathod, wife of former Mayor Rajendrasinh Rathod, said when the problem occurred two months ago, they had spent about Rs 2,000 on changing their water purifier filter; this time, however, they bought two dozen bottles of mineral water and then called for the tanker.

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She pointed out that instead of digging up entire bylanes, the VMC engineers should have detected the fault from the main line which passes from the R C Dutt Road. Last time, too, the fault had been detected there, she added.M Kumar, HRD executive with Gas Authority of India Limited, said his office was spending Rs 500 per day on mineral water for its employees because of the poor quality of water supplied by the VMC.

8220;It8217;s time the corporation solved the problem once and for all. Not everybody can afford to spend on mineral water on a daily basis neither are we used to drinking it8221;, he said.