Iron content in drinking water removed: official

Puducherry, Feb 6 (UNI) The Puducherry administration has resolved the problem of iron content in drinking water in rural areas and efforts are on to tackle it in the urban areas, PWD Chief Engineer C Anandane said today.

Launching the Rajiv Gandhi National Water Quality Monitoring and Suveillance Programme at Thavalakuppam near here, Mr Anandana said that 0.1 per cent iron content was permitted in drinking water, however, 3.5 per cent was found in several areas. As a step towards resolving the problem in urban areas, nearly testing of 700 water samples would be carried out in a month, he said.

In Puducherry region, there were 44 over-head water tanks and eight tanks were under construction. Once, these were completed, pure drinking water could be supplied to all area in the region.

Speaking on the occasion, DRDA Project Director Mathew Samuel said the administration had been requested to enhance the subsidy for the construction of toilets in villages. Though the DRDA had a scheme of rural sanitation, it could not be claimed to be 100 per cent successful, since many people were reluctant to use it, he added.

Legislators Anantharaman and Rajaraman and Assistant Director of Health Neelamani also spoke at the function, which came to an abrupt end following a tussle between the Legislators and the Councillors.

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