VMC issues notices to 2 units for polluting Mahisagar river

VADODARA: In a first, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) slapped notices to two industrial units suspected of polluting Mahisagar river. The civic body took the unprecedented step after it came to light that the water polluted by the industries was making its way into the city’s water supply system.
VMC officials had recently noticed supply of yellowish water in a water tank in some areas.The engineers started working backwards in an attempt to reach the source of the coloured water.
It came to light that the water was entering the system from the Mahisagar river. The VMC has French wells at Raika, Dodka, Fajalpur and Poicha in the river bed. It is commonplace for water to get muddy during monsoon, but coloured water was something that officials had not expected. Despite treatment, the yellowness of the water had persisted.
Personnel of the civic body found out that a channel was releasing polluted water from nearby industries into the Mahi river. They informed their seniors regarding it and a visit was planned to the industries. “We met the representatives of one of the two units that we believed were polluting the river while those at the helm of affairs of the other unit were not available. On Wednesday, we issued notices to both the units,” VMC’s executive engineer Jatan Badheka who looks into the water distribution of north and east zone of the city.