Some villages still prefer RO water over Mission Bhagiratha

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao amidst much fanfare launched Mission Bhagiratha on a mission mode, but people in some villages are sceptical about the quality of water and hence were staying away from using it and still using packaged water.

The Mission Bhagiratha officials said that though purified water is supplied through the taps to all the villages under the project, the people were still using the water supplied by the Reverse Osmosis plants. They said that this has gone to the notice of the government and it wants to discourage the practice.

They tried to exhort the public representatives that the water supplied through Mission Bhagiratha was not only pure but also contains the nutrients required for the healthy growth of the body.

The Mission Bhagiratha has been launched by the State government to provide purified water to each household through taps in all the villages and towns. The scheme was implemented with an approximate cost of Rs 43,000 crore.

Water is drawn from the rivers and rivulets and is being treated at the treatment plants and pumped to the villages through the project. Laying of pipelines to all the villages from the pumping stations has been completed and the officials have been claiming that the project is almost complete.

However, the usage of the water from RO plants has not gone down though purified water is supplied to each household in the villages. The people have been purchasing water from the RO plants.

According to official sources the villagers have been using the MB water for other purposes.

They said that this has been defeating the very purpose of the Mission Bhagiratha project. They said that objective of the Mission Bhagiratha was to provide purified and healthy water to the villages so that the people do not fall prey to the water related diseases.

In the past, due to the drinking water being supplied through the water supply schemes of the villages the people have fallen prey to several diseases. They have suffered bacterial infections, fluorosis and others. The water supplied through the schemes of the villages contained fluoride and other pollutants and it was not treated.

During the presentations in the awareness camps the officials have demonstrated results of the tests being conducted on bore water, RO plant water and the MB water. The results of the tests explained that bore water contained more total dissolved salts. The RO plant water contained less of them than prescribed and the MB water contained the required salts.

The officials explained that if the water which has less salts is consumed people would suffer problems like pains in the joints. They said that the water from Mission Bhagiratha has standards set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.