Potable water supplied in tankers under quality check

With summer affecting water supply in the city, there is an increase in the demand for potable water supplied in tankers by private operators. Apartments, gated communities, restaurants, offices and institutions employing large number of people are depending on private operators to meet the requirement.

The health and engineering wings of Coimbatore Corporation were checking the quality of the potable water supplied in tankers at various levels, said officials.

Quality check of potable water gains importance as laboratory examinations of groundwater in the past in Coimbatore had shown presences of heavy metals and harmful bacteria like E. coli.

Corporation Health Officer K. Santhoshkumar said that the health wing of the civil body was checking chlorine levels in the water supplied in tankers.

A senior official said that the engineering wing of the civic body was checking the quality of water supplied in tankers to examine various parameters including potability, hardness and presence of microbial organisms.

“The samples are collected at various points including the source and when the water is in transit. Samples are then sent to government laboratory for examination,” said the official.

Officials with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said that the body was not checking the quality of the tanker water as it was not covered under the FSSAI Act.

Nearly 3,500 private water tankers are operated in Coimbatore.