Water contamination: BMC to hire staff to tackle problem

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday announced immediate measures to curb water contamination, a day after it came to light that a fourth of the city’s drinking water samples were unfit for human consumption.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday announced immediate measures to curb water contamination, a day after it came to light that a fourth of the city’s drinking water samples were unfit for human consumption.

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.Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar said he had directed civic officials to step up vigil to detect areas that get contaminated water and fix the problem. Kumar also said he would be recruiting staff exclusively for leak detection and to attend to complaints of contamination.

The Hindustan Times on Monday reported that the water contamination level in 2010-11 was 24.64%, according to the BMC’s annual environment status report.

After HT’s report on water contamination on August 6, 2010, the BMC and the state had promised several measures to ensure supply of clean drinking water, but little has changed. Last year, the contamination level was at 26.1%.

On Tuesday, Kumar directed civic staff to collect more water samples and cover more areas to find out contamination levels.