The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Water quality of tankers unchecked

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Thursday, Jun 12, 2008
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Kerala - Kochi

Water quality of tankers unchecked

K.S. Sudhi

160 crore litres of drinking water supplied monthly by tanker lorries

Photo: H. Vibhu

Clean water?: Women at Cheriakadavu, near Chellanam, collecting their ration of water from a tanker lorry.

KOCHI: Quality drinking water from tanker lorries is more a matter of belief than a reality in Kochi.

Millions of residents and visitors to this port town are forced to depend on water supplied by tanker lorries without much quality checks. It is estimated that 160 crore litres of drinking water are supplied by tanker lorries in the city each month where piped water is still a dream for millions. Each day, around 1.80 crore litres of drinking water are consumed by various categories of consumers and water is mostly supplied by tanker lorry companies through telephone orders. Then there is the parallel water supply network developed by the tanker lorries. Besides meeting the drinking water needs of the city, the tanker lorries also cater to the water demands of customers for non-drinking purposes like construction.

Strangely, it’s mostly on the quality certificate produced by the water suppliers at the time of finalisation of tenders for water supply that agencies like Kochi Corporation are banking on for quality assurance. And the water suppliers are mostly of the view that there is no need for any quality check as “water is drawn from hilly terrains where large number of people are using it for drinking purposes.” “We supply water that meets the different quality requirements of our customers. There is no need for testing the quality of water taken from hilly areas,” said T.A. Majeed, president of the Water Tanker Lorry Owners Association, Ernakulam. The cost of water will go up if quality parameters are introduced and this will further reduce the margin of the industry which is in dire straits. Several tanker lorry owners have left the industry, as it is no longer a profitable venture, Mr. Majeed said. The big hotels regularly check the quality of water supplied to them and water from the same source is given to others, he said.

There is no permanent system for checking the quality of water supplied by the tanker lorries, admitted Dr. C. Santha, Health Officer of the Kochi Corporation.

Though the water quality certificate and details of source of water are required for the contractors to take part in the bidding, there is no system for ensuring that water is collected from safe sources. If required, the Corporation can inspect the sources and the water suppliers are also aware of that. The Corporation conducts water quality checks whenever there are some complaints, she said. The Ernakulam District Medical Officer Dr. K.T. Ramani said that regular water quality checks will be carried out when there are outbreaks of diseases. Directions were issued to local health officials to check the quality of water consumed in their territories. However, no complaints of poor water quality regarding the tanker lorries have been received. The Health Department plans to chlorinate the drinking water sources in the city, Dr. Ramani said.

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