GUWAHATI: A glitch at the British-era water treatment plant situated at Satpukhuri has hit the Guwahati Municipal Corporation’s water supply for the last three days. The situation is likely to remain so for the next few days, adding to the water woes of the residents of a vast part of the city.
Households with GMC drinking water connections in different localities such as Uzan Bazar, Kharghuli, Chenikuthi, Silpukhuri, Chandmari, Hedayetpur and Bamunimaidam complained that they had been receiving muddy and yellowish water since May 20 and that it was not even fit for washing clothes and utensils, let alone drinking.
The GMC sources said the civic body is facing some machinery issue at the treatment plant because of large quantities of sludge in the water pumped from the intake well in the Brahmaputra river into the pre-settling tank following heavy rain across the state for the last several weeks. The reservoir of the treatment plant is located at the top of Chitrachal hill and lost its engineering life 30 years ago.
Commissioned in 1930, the water treatment plant at Satpukhuri is the oldest one in the city. It was last renovated in 1984.
A GMC official said, “The filters of the water treatment plant are being cleaned. A few machine parts, along with the filter, have become damaged. The process of replacing those is under way. It will take a few more days to restore the supply of clean tap water.”
At present, the municipal water supply meets 30% of the city’s total requirement. The GMC consumers pay a monthly water bill of Rs 35 per member of a household.
Nalini Sarma, a resident of Chandmari, said such problems occur frequently affecting hundreds of households. “Thousands of litres of water get washed away every day because of leakages in the reservoir. Neither the civic body nor the department concerned or the local MLA pay any heed to these issues. All our requests fall on deaf ears,” he added.
