Confusion prevails over quality of PHE water

SHILLONG: Questions remain over the purity of drinking water supplied in Shillong by the PHE department and also over the actual pH level of the water with claims and counter claims by both the government and the KHNAM Youth Wing.
Thomas Passah, president of KHNAM Youth Wing, on Monday reiterated that they had, through an RTI application, found that there was no chemist or biologist put on duty to check the quality of the Mawphlang water that was meant to be supplied to residents of Shillong.
Passah questioned that in the absence of a chemist or biologist, there can be no confirmation as to whether the water is safe for human consumption or not.
He said that they had approached the Pasteur Institute and the latter had provided them bottles to collect samples of the clear water storage of the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme located at 4½ Mile, Upper Shillong.
“After taking the sample to the Institute they informed us that the report will come out after seven days. When the report came out it specified that the water is not fit for human consumption,” Passah added.
Reacting to the clarification of the PHE department published in local dailies on Monday, he asserted that the State government was trying to defend its wrong doings.
Expressing discontent over the government’s claims, Passah said the government was not taking the matter seriously and added that the KHNAM Youth Wing will approach PHE Minster R.C. Laloo over the issue.
The PHE department brought out advertisements in local dailies on Monday clarifying on the report of drinking water being acidic.
The department maintained that it had sent two samples of water to Pasteur Institute on January 7 and again on January 12 and one sample to the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board on January 12 and all three tests had indicated that the pH value of water supplied to Shillong was well within the permissible limit of drinking water standard. Another test conducted on January 15 also indicated that the water was safe for consumption.
The PHED further stated that the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme is equipped with a laboratory which is manned 24 hours a day and the parameters of incoming raw water and outgoing treated water are monitored at regular intervals.
The department also affirmed that permission was neither sought for nor granted for collecting water samples from the PHE 4 ½ Mile Reservoir at Upper Shillong in January, 2016. The KHNAM Youth Wing, it may be reminded, had claimed that it had collected the water sample from the said complex on January 6.