After Indore deaths, KMC stresses lab test for water
Times of India | 3 January 2026
Kolkata: The KMC seniors on Friday put the city's water installations on high alert, insisting on stricter lab tests of raw water before being sent to treatment plants. The directive came following the death of 10 people in Indore who had consumed drinking water, contaminated with sewage water from a toilet built at the local police check post.
An official said lab testing of the raw water, going through the filtration process at the Palta water treatment plant, would be made more stringent.
Special laboratory tests will be similarly carried out at the Garden Reach, Dhapa, Jorabagan and Watgunge water treatment plants to ensure purity standards are not compromised on.
Moreover, officials managing the city's water booster pumping stations were asked to ensure rigorous checks of the quality of drinking water after it travelled from the treatment plant to booster pumping stations. "Determining the quality of water at booster pumping stations is essential as water travels through a pipeline and carries the risk of getting contaminated midway. If we detect any sort of discrepancies in the quality of drinking water at the booster pumping stations, we will need to purify water to ensure supply is safe for drinking," said a KMC water supply department official. The official pointed out that the risk of contamination inside pipelines came from cracks or leakages and close contact with a sewage pipe running parallel. "If we suspect any compromise on the water standard, booster pumping station people take effective steps, including increasing the quantity of residual chlorine in the water before it reaches doorsteps," he added.
But KMC is keeping a special eye on areas with a history of an outbreak of diarrhoea due to the supply of contaminated water. "The Kankurgachhi-Maniktala belt, Park Circus, Bhowanipore and the Tollygunge-Jadavpur belt are some places, where we will need to keep our vigil. We will also keep a watch on the tube-well zones, as maintaining the quality of groundwater sometimes becomes a challenge," said a KMC official.