Puducherry govt to supply 20 litres of free drinking water to households from April 14
The PWD Minister said the current drinking water supply was entirely dependent on groundwater sources. To meet the rising demand, borewells have been dug, but excessive groundwater extraction has led to saline water.;
Representative image
PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry PWD Minister K Lakshminarayanan announced on Wednesday that the territorial government would begin supplying 20 litres of safe drinking water in cans, free of cost to households in areas struggling with access to quality water, from April 14.
Addressing the concerns raised by Independent member G Nehru alias Kuppusamy during question hour in the House over inferior quality water, the PWD Minister said the current drinking water supply was entirely dependent on groundwater sources. To meet the rising demand, borewells have been dug, but excessive groundwater extraction has led to saline water.
Lakshminarayanan said to mitigate this issue, water drawn from borewells with high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) content is being blended with water from other borewells that have permissible TDS levels. This blended water is then supplied to households.
Meanwhile, steps were taken to supply 20 litres of water free of cost in cans to every household in the affected areas.
Earlier raising the issue, the Independent MLA said, "poor and unhygienic water now supplied to the people had been found to be a source of several ailments including skin rashes, respiratory problem and kidney related ailments."
He sought immediate steps to end the problem.
Civil Supplies Minister PRN Thirumurugan told the House that the government would initiate steps to open ration shops wherever they were lacking now.
Till the shops came up, the government would introduce a system of supplying free rice every month to the residents at the doorsteps of the cardholders.