New water plant @ Raichur lay unused

Bengaluru: The failure of Raichur city municipal council (CMC) to sufficiently stockpile bleach and alum to filter river water and operate the new water treatment plant (WTP) led to the contamination tragedy in the last week of May. Five people died and nearly 100 took ill in the incident.
Fourteen of the city’s 35 wards received unfiltered water as the CMC pumped it directly from Rampur reservoir on Tungabhadra river between May 25 and 29 without channelling it through the old WTP, which had developed problems.It had also exhausted bleach and alum stocks.
It was only after the contamination tragedy hit the headlines that the municipality purchased bleach and alum and began operating the new plant, set up way back in 2018.
Officials kept the council in the dark about the non-availability of chemicals for filtering water. What is more worrisome is that the municipality did not take over the new 12.5ml WTP, built using Rs 4.8 crore and located close to the old plant.
Residents started complaining about various symptoms on May 29 and a death was reported on the same day.
As per documents accessed by TOI, Karnataka Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KWSSB) had successfully conducted a three-month trial run of the new WTP and written to the CMC on July 28, 2018 to hand over the plant. Shockingly, the CMC sat on this for nearly two years. On April 27, 2020, it wrote back to the board saying it’d take over the unit only after some repair work. KWSSB asked the CMC to foot the bill of Rs 58 lakh for this work. After this, there was no communication on the issue.
Jayanna, senior councillor from Ashapur, one of the affected wards, said that for three years, the issue of making the new WTP operational was raised at council meetings. The officials responsible for this delay should be punished, he added. Jayanna confirmed that the new plant with minor repairs has been made operational now. The CMC, while using the new plant, is yet to take it over formally.
CMC commissioner K Gurulingappa said: “I was unaware of the non-availability of bleach and alum as I took charge on May 18. The staffers pumped the water directly. The old WTP is also defunct and its repair will cost the price of a new plant. We are now discussing the future course of action on the old plant.”
Full report: toi.in