Groundwater samples in 110 villages to be tested from today

Move comes after HC flayed BWSSB for failure to check contamination

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), along with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), is all set to test water samples of 50 borewells, including dug wells, in 110 villages on the outskirts of the City from Monday.

A team will visit the villages and identify the source of water used for domestic purpose and collect samples, a KSPCB official said.

The water samples from over 50 borewells and dug wells will be collected and tested for pH (measure of acidity or basicity of a solution), nitrate, hardness, total dissolved solids (TDS) and fluoride.

If nitrate is found in high levels, then the sanitary outlet in the villages will have to be checked as sewage contamination with groundwater is the main reason for high levels of nitrate in water, the official explained.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) testing may be conducted to check the levels of nitrate, the official added.

In case hardness in the water or fluoride content is found to be in excess, then it would be established that the geological condition of the area is causing the contamination, the official said.

The KSPCB had already begun testing water samples at 14 different locations in the City and found high levels of nitrate in certain localities near the Vrishabhavathi river.

The samples are being tested after High Court filed a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) based on a newspaper report on drinking water contamination in 52 locations in the City.

The High Court sought to know from the civic agencies why water was getting contaminated and why no alternative supply of clean drinking water was provided.

The BWSSB, in its response, had said that Cauvery water could be supplied only to areas where the infrastructure was available to supply water through piped lines. But as no infrastructure is available in the 110 villages, it cannot supply water through tankers, the BWSSB had said.

Explaining the reason, BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T Venkataraju said that the Board was already facing challenges in supplying free drinking water to areas added newly to the City. Residents had got used to getting free water and were not interested in obtaining an authorised water connection.

“In KR Puram, nearly 80,000 water connections have to be regularised. But residents are not interested in submitting the documents as they have got used to getting free supply of drinking water for the past 10 years,” Venkataraju explained. “We cannot supply free water to any new areas as it might create a similar situation.”