Water in the well around Murukkumpuzha railway station not fit for consumption
20 Dec, 2013Responding to complaints about the poor quality of well-water around the railway platform construction site at Murukkumpuzha in Thiruvananthapuram District, the government had formed a technical committee to study groundwater contamination in and around the railway platform stretch.
The report of the technical committee, accessed through Right to Information (RTI) Act, shows that coliform bacteria is present in almost all well water samples. It showed that the well-water samples showed bacteria count of 1,600 which is way higher than the permissible limits of 10 as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). However, the report does not establish a direct cause-effect relation between the construction site and the quality of groundwater. The committee report also showed some deviations from the findings in the test report of the department of health services from government analyst's laboratory. While the technical committee report states that in only a few samples, nitrate was to be in slight excess of the permissible limits, the health department report states that all samples of well-water had low pH value and high ammonia content, thus making it unsuitable for consumption.
The committee, comprising of officials from the pollution control board, ground water department, Suchitwa mission and national institute of inter-disciplinary science and technology, had also suggested measures like spreading of tarpaulin above the filled-up area and making drains to divert rain water.