Mumbai
Will provide the facility to villages with more than 50 Total Dissolved Solids in drinking water
Updated : Jan 19, 2018, 06:40 AM IST
Maharashtra government is planning to install RO purifiers to provide safe drinking water in 3,000 villages. The department of water supply and sanitation will provide these machines.
The department of water supply and sanitation has prepared a plan to further the campaign of open-defecation free villages. Under the plan, the department has conveyed it to the department of finance that there is a need to provide water purification systems in villages which have more than 50 TDS or Total Dissolved Solids in water sources. As per information gathered by the department of water supply and sanitation, there are 700 such villages. In addition to these villages, the department is planning to provide RO machines to select 3,000 villages.
An official said that even though TDS is not considered as the primary pollutant and even though it directly does not hamper health, it is considered an indicator of the presence of many chemical contaminants in water. Primary sources for TDS are agricultural and residential run-offs, clay rich water which flows down the hills in the rainy season or point source water pollution discharge from industrial and sewage treatment plants. The official informed that common chemical constituents of TDS in water are calcium, phosphates, sodium, potassium and chloride.
Minister of water supply and sanitation Babanrao Lonikar had a talk with Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on this issue, who assured that funds would not be an issue when it comes to providing drinking water to people especially in rural areas. Lonikar said that as far as open defecation free villages are concerned, the state will achieve 100 per cent success by March 2018 instead of national deadline of March 2019 set by Union Government.