This story is from July 20, 2018

Activists in Kolar threaten to send tankers of ‘treated sewage water’ to MLAs

Activists in Kolar threaten to send tankers of ‘treated sewage water’ to MLAs
Kolar/Bengaluru: A day after Bengaluru's “treated sewage water” spewed froth in a Kolar village, members of an action committee seeking water to Kolar district have threatened to make local legislators get a first-hand feel of the foam. The threat came even as the authorities stopped releasing “treated sewage water”, and inlets from pipelines to Kolar tanks were blocked.
On Thursday, committee convener Kurubarapet Venkatesh told TOI that they have decided to send one tanker each of froth-filled water to the houses of legislators of Kolar district.
The district has eight assembly segments -- Sidlaghatta, Chintamani, Srinivaspura, Mulbagal, Kolar Gold Fields, Bangarpet, Kolar and Malur.
On Wednesday, the much publicized Rs 1,300-crore Koramangala-Challaghatta Valley project, which aims to fill tanks in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts with treated sewage water from Bengaluru, ran into rough weather after froth started gushing from the canal linked to Lakshmisagara tank in Kolar, leaving villagers irritated.
“Legislators of Kolar district should openly oppose the project that has brought froth-filled water into our tanks. Otherwise, the same water will be collected in tankers and delivered to their houses,” Venkatesh said.
“Though we have petitioned the state government, seeking tertiary treatment of sewage water before releasing it into Kolar’s tanks, neither did authorities in the minor irrigation department and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board heed us, and nor did the legislators,” he added.
In the meantime, the Karnataka High Court has listed a related PIL filed by Anjaneya Reddy to Monday for hearing.
The petitioner said that though they had expressed apprehensions before the elected representatives well before the project commenced, they fell on deaf ears. “In many foreign countries, treated water is used for industrial purposes, secondary use for humans or for agriculture. But in this case, the water is being used to fill tanks to rejuvenate the water table, which may pollute the existing underground water. We will be bringing all these matters before the High Court,” he added.

55km pipeline to be cleansed
The minor irrigation department, meanwhile, has stopped pumping treated water to Kolar district and will release the water in the pipeline into the natural Koramangala-Challaghatta Valley, to prevent it from reaching Kolar’s tanks.
“We stopped pumping water to Kolar on Wednesday itself, but stagnant water inside the 55km pipeline could still have froth in it. Instead of letting this water into the lakes, we will be letting it out at three valley points, near Hoskote, Channasandra and the Bellandur valley. From there, it will eventually flow towards Tamil Nadu via Hosur, which is the natural valley course,” said SN Krishnappa, executive engineer (Kolar division), minor irrigation department, adding that there was nothing wrong with the water, and it would have no repercussions.
According to Krishnappa, about 180-200 million litres of water is still inside the pipeline. “We are likely to start letting the water out from Thursday night. If we get permission to let the water out only at night, then it will take about 2-3 days,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which is operating the sewage treatment plants, said their water was being tested every day, and was well within the norms set by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. “Since they have stopped pumping water towards Kolar, we are letting it out into Challaghatta lake instead,” said a senior BWSSB officer.
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