Bihar committed to focus on quality water supply

Patna, May 31: Public health engineering department (PHED) minister Chandra Mohan Rai said the state government was committed to provide quality and potable water to the people.

Addressing a news meet at his office today, Rai said: “In the past few years, there has been a continuous tapping of groundwater resulting in the depletion of the water table. This has been because of the continuous drought in the state for the past few years.”

Rai said, in the past couple of years, the state has received scanty rainfall because of which the groundwater table has gone down. The 17 districts of south Bihar have been affected by droughts. Moreover, 11 districts of the state are affected with groundwater having higher fluoride content and high arsenic content.

Rai said as the state has been facing drought for two consecutive years, the state government has decided to provide water supply through area-specific pipelines. In the drought-prone areas, around 1,770 pipelines will be set up in the drought-hit areas.

Similarly, around 379 pipelines would be set up for the areas affected by high fluoride content. These would be run with the help of solar power. The minister also urged the people to come forward in conservation of groundwater.

The minister said: “Earlier we used to consider groundwater as pure and pristine. But, now, even groundwater is contaminated, posing a serious threat to the people. Pollution of groundwater is more dangerous than pollution of surface water. The people of the state have also been facing the problem of groundwater contamination with arsenic, fluoride and nitrate.

Rai called upon the scientists and academicians to create awareness in the society about the harmful effects of the use of contaminated water. The minister also listed the schemes taken by the state government in provision of water supply in Bihar.

“Under the multipurpose Biddupur water supply scheme, works on providing safe drinking water to 19 villages is going on. Similarly, under Maner water supply scheme, 26 small villages are covered, where supply of drinking water is going on,” the minister added.