The Raska water supply plant had to be shut for the fifth continuous day on Saturday when a dark brown liquid appeared in the water. It is a mark of shame that the authorities have still not been able to find the root cause of the problem.
Officials have revealed that since Tuesday, there had been 3 days where the brown liquid seeped into the Raska plant at a minimum of four times a day. The AMC is firm that the plant shall remain shut until clear supply from the irrigation and water resources department arrives.
There is discord between the police, the AMC and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, to agree upon the cause of the dark liquid. The AMC is of the opinion that it arrives from a chemical dump with high suspended solids, detected near Jalampura village. On the other hand, the GPCB engineers believe that the brown colour is a kind of algae which is present along the benthic portion of the canal and also present in the silt at Wanakbori dam.
AMC has strong reasons to debunk the theory. The suspended solids measured at Jalampura village were detected at 1,414 milligrams per liter. On the other hand, at Wanakbori dam, the suspended solids were measured at just 14 mg per litre. A senior AMC official was surprised to see a deep brown liquid as the algae makes the colour green, not brown. He further said that until they get clear surface water from the irrigation department, they are to keep the plant shut.
The chemical oxygen demand measured at Jalampura, the GPCB said that it was 268 mg per litre, and it decreased to 25 mg per litre after the same liquid was filtered.
