Kalimpong: Water supply resumes after fresh test decision

Kalimpong

March 25.TT: Suppliers who ferry water in town resumed their services today after the civic body decided to conduct a fresh round of tests on water from different sources.

The decision was taken at a meeting last night in which the representatives of Kalimpong Water Supply Drivers’ Welfare Association, the municipality and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha were present.

“We will collect water samples from the vehicles entering the municipality area for bacteriological analyses. If the water is found contaminated, we will trace the source, and tanks (containers) carrying water from that source will be labelled ‘not for drinking’. Water free of contamination will be labelled ‘safe drinking water’. We will be conducting the tests on a regular basis,” said Dr. S.D. Zimba, the health officer of the municipality.

The labelling would be done at the source from which the water is drawn.

The civic body had declared last week that six streams were contaminated with coliform bacteria and water from these sources was unsafe for drinking. Following the announcement the suppliers had refused to ferry water in town on Friday.

The supplier association that operates under the Janmukti Chalak Mahasangh, an affiliate of the Morcha, had asked why the sources were declared contaminated last week when the tests had been conducted in 2010-2011.

“We do not want to supply contaminated water to people. I am happy that the matter has been amicably resolved keeping in mind the interest of the residents,” Samuel Rai, the association’s president, said.

Residents of the town are dependent on water suppliers as the municipality’s rationed distribution cannot meet their needs.

The public health engineering department that used to distribute water every alternate day has restricted the supply to once in three days for the past two weeks.

“I got many calls from hoteliers asking why I stopped the water supply. I had a tough time explaining to them that our idea was not to stop the supply but to ensure that the people are provided with safe drinking water,” said Zimba.