In the aftermath of the outbreak of an undiagnosed illness in Eluru in West Godavari district, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has sent its water samples to the Regional Laboratory and AP Pollution Control Board for testing.
Though GVMC tests the water at all its reservoirs on a daily basis, these samples were sent as a precautionary measure.
Speaking to The Hindu, GVMC Superintendent Engineer Venugopal said that every day, 1,620 samples are drawn from the 256 reservoirs under its purview and sent for tests.
As many as 750 samples are sent to a third-party analyser named BS Chemicals, and the remaining are done by the department itself.
“Basically, on a daily basis we conduct the test for chlorination. But now, we have sent the samples for tests in about 13 parameters, such as COD (chemical oxygen demand), BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), PH and turbidity,” he said.
GVMC supplies water to about 23 lakh people. It supplies about 65 mgd of potable water and about 15 mgd to industry.
“There are different parameters of tests for the raw and potable water and we check for various aspects such as fluoride, PH, iron and turbidity. We also check for bacteria and chlorinate the water to remove bacteria before supplying it to people,” he said.
Reservoirs being cleaned
“After the Eluru incident, the GVMC is taking steps to clean all its reservoirs and pipelines. We will be doing it in phases so that the water supply is not affected,” Mr. Venugopal said.
