Allaying the fear of the people that polluted water is being supplied to them, the Erode Corporation officials has said that water drawn from River Cauvery is treated fully and is safe for drinking.
The civic body draws about 54.09 million litres per day of water from River Cauvery and also from borewells that are supplied to residents in the 60 wards. Since the discharge from Stanley Reservoir in Mettur was stopped for irrigation and water is released only for drinking needs, the flow of water in the river is very low. Pichaikaran Pallam Canal and Sunnambu Odai that carries industrial effluents enter the river near the pumping station located at Vairapalayam causing fear among the people that polluted water is drawn and being supplied to them.
“The colour of drinking water remains black and bad odour emanates from it,” said Maragatham, a resident of Kali Amman Kovil area. Another resident T. Subbu of Water Office Road claims that effluents enter the river from where the water is pumped and distributed to the people.
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He wanted the pollution to be stopped at least during summer when the flow in the river is very low. Residents said that they cannot store the water in the containers and drink it for many days due to its colour and bad odour. But, senior corporation officials said that water is drawn from the middle of the river at nine places and after being treated, protected drinking water is supplied to the people. They added that work on the Dedicated Water Supply Scheme to supply 81.10 MLD of water to the corporation from Uratchikottai will be completed by July after which water will not be drawn from the current pumping stations. Corporation Commissioner M. Elangovan could not be contacted for comments.