State Govt.take decission Supply treated Surface Water from Ganga to large number of Villages

  water treatment Plant

PATNA: Health hazard facing the rural people using underground water containing arsenic content as drinking water, has made the state government take a major decision to supply the treated surface water from rivers directly to the villages in different districts through multi-village piped water supply scheme.
The programme was a hit in Bhojpur district when it was introduced in 2009-10. Now, this scheme is being extended to other districts located on the bed of the Ganga for treating the Ganga water and supplying safe drinking water to a large number of villages in Buxar, Patna, Vaishali and Bhagalpur districts.
Public health and engineering department (PHED) minister Chandra Mohan Rai told TOI that in the absence of a detailed survey of underground water it was difficult to locate exactly the arsenic-affected villages and so this scheme was launched to supply the treated surface water to the villagers. He said detecting arsenic in the groundwater is difficult as it is found in different layers of underground water at different times.
According to a senior PHED official, the programme was running successfully in 39 villages of Bhojpur district located near the bank of Ganga with facility of treatment of water through conventional methods and then disinfecting it using sodium hypo chloride.
At the water treatment plant installed at Maujama village in Bhojpur district, the water is first allowed to settle, then passed through clariflaculator chamber for cleaning with alum and lime. Thereafter, the water is filtered and passed through the disinfectant unit and then lifted to a high mast water tower from where the water is taken through pipeline to eight mini towers each supplying water to a cluster of villages.
The official said that a special power feeder line was taken for drawing the Ganga water to the treatment plant, lifting the water to the towers and supply them to the villages.
Now this scheme is being extended to Bidupur block in Vaishali district to supply pure drinking water (treated) from the Ganga to about 50 villages. In Buxar district, the scheme would provide drinking water to 130 villages while in Patna district 25 villages under Maner block will be covered under the scheme. In Bhagalpur district, 141 villages/tolas under Kahalgaon and Pirpainty blocks and 86 villages/tolas under Sultanganj and Nathnagar blocks would be covered, the PHEDofficials said.