Raigad: Muddy water from taps in Mangaon prompts urgent civic meeting
Muddy tap water from the rain-swollen Kal river angered Mangaon residents, prompting the Nagar Panchayat to call an urgent meeting at its purification centre.
Residents in the Mangaon Nagar Panchayat area have been getting muddy, soil-mixed water from their taps in recent days, angering citizens, especially women. People are also upset that the Nagar Panchayat did not give them timely notice or an announcement about the problem.
According to water supply department staff, heavy rain in the Kal river and the surrounding hilly area has turned the river water red and muddy. This turbid water is pumped directly from the jackwell to the water purification centre at Utekhol, where it is purified using alum and TCL powder through the filtration plant's tanks.
The water supply department said that despite purification, muddy water sometimes still comes through the taps because of intermittent heavy rain and the resulting change in the colour of the Kal river's water. Citizens have therefore been asked to strain and boil any water they store before drinking it.
After purification, the water is brought to three large storage tanks. From there it is supplied through nine pipelines in three shifts across the day to all tap connections. Around 3.5 million litres of water is supplied daily to the people of Mangaon, so occasional technical problems, power cuts and fluctuating pressure also affect the water supply schedule.
Despite these difficulties, the Nagar Panchayat's water supply department continues to work to supply regular water to the people of Mangaon. Staff have to work hard to ensure clean water reaches people properly, especially given the changes in river water quality during the monsoon and at the end of summer.
Ajit Chandrakant Tarlekar, chairman of the water supply committee of the Mangaon Nagar Panchayat, was asked about the muddy water problem. He said he had called an urgent special meeting at the Utekhol water purification centre on Wednesday, September 23, which was attended by water supply staff and Nagar Panchayat junior engineer Akash Buva.
At the meeting, staff were clearly instructed to supply water to people only after taking the necessary precautions in the purification process. Junior engineer Akash Buva also assured the staff that problems arising during purification would be resolved immediately, and gave clear instructions to exercise greater vigilance in the purification process.
