Shopian: The residents of south Kashmir’s Shopian district have complained of receiving muddy water after a downpour of a few minutes.
The water, according to the residents, “could not be used for doing laundry, let alone drinking.” “We are receiving muddy water almost throughout the year in the absence of filtration plants”, complained a group of residents from the town.
The Shopian division has over 60 water supply schemes and the Department of Jal Shakti relies on old slow sand filtration plants. The inadequate number of such filtration plants and their frequent choking prompts people to drink turbid water, which results in many waterborne diseases.
Several villages of the district over the last few years witnessed Hapatist-A outbreaks due to the consumption of contaminated water. In February this year, cases of Hepatitis-A were reported from Ganowpora and Watho villages of the district.
“You could rarely see clean water flowing out from the taps in this area”, said Mitha Gatoo, a social activist from Shopian . He said that the concerned department doesn’t treat water before supplying it to the people.
Gatoo appealed to the LG administration to install a modern water filtration plant in the area to resolve the issue. Some residents believed that the construction of the Mughal road led to the pollution of water bodies in the area. The Rambiara River, which is the key source of water supply schemes in the area, runs alongside the Mughal road, and its water gets polluted due to the mudslides triggered by rains.
Executive Engineer, Abdul Rashid Ganie told Greater Kashmir that rapid sand filtration plants had been already approved under Jal Jeevan Mission, and the work was put out for tenders. “Once these plants are made operational, people will get rid of the contained water”, he said.
