Date:09/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/09/stories/2008080959320500.htm

Tamil Nadu

Low-cost drinking water purifying unit installed in Madambakkam

K. Manikandan

— Photo: K. Manikandan

The drinking water purifying unit installed in Madambakkam.

TAMBARAM: A low-cost drinking water disinfectant-cum-purifying unit has been installed in Madambakkam town panchayat.

The plants were sponsored by a private firm, officials said, adding it was an effective alternative to conventional methods adopted by the State government agencies and local bodies to chlorinate drinking water.

Briefing The Hindu on how the plant operated, Malliga Mohan, chairperson of the Madambakkam town panchayat, said that normally, bags of bleaching powder were stocked and later mixed at the water source or in ground level service reservoirs (sumps), before being transported to overhead tanks for domestic supply.

The new technology put in place manufactures chlorine using a simple method where common kitchen salt is mixed with water and after Direct Current is passed through it, the result substance — sodium hypo chloride — is mixed along with the drinking water.

Four kg of common salt was all that was required to prepare the disinfectant to treat a few lakh litres of water. The common salt is poured into bins along with 150 litres of water and after passing Direct Current for eight hours, the required quantity of the disinfectant chlorine is obtained. It is then injected into the water that is transported to the six overhead water tanks all over Madambakkam.

Ms. Malliga said bleaching powder had a shelf life of only two weeks and its strong and pungent smell did not find favour among all sections. The chlorine prepared using common salt was cost-effective without leaving behind the pungent smell, she said. The daily requirement of drinking water in Madambakkam was about 6 lakh litres which they supplied to residents through 863 individual connections and 312 street taps.

M. P. V. Jeyakumar, Chief Executive Officer of Tianno Fabricators that has sponsored two units in Madambakkam — at Periyar Nagar and another in Pathuvanchery — at a combined cost of Rs. 2.5 lakh, said the new technology would help local bodies save tax payers’ money.