90% RO water treatment plants defunct in Muktsar

Over 90 per cent of the 229 reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plants installed in Muktsar district are non-functional.

The information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act revealed that 105 of the 118 plants in Muktsar Division-1 and 111 out of 121 in Malout Division of the Water Supply and Sanitation Department were currently non-functional.

Nearly 65 per cent of the water samples tested in the district during the first three months of the year failed to meet potability standards.

Out of 51 samples collected from various locations, only 18 were found safe for human consumption while the rest were deemed non-potable due to bacterial contamination or other impurities.

Under the prevailing circumstances, those, who can afford it, are fetching water from private RO plants or have installed their own systems. However, many poor families still depend on the water supplied through local waterworks. In some villages, women fetch water from hand pumps installed along the canals.

The Executive Engineer of the Water Supply and Sanitation, Muktsar Division-1, said these plants were set up over the past few years. These were handed over to panchayats after the end of their operation and maintenance period by private contractors.

“Most plants are not working due to issues such as the need for repairs and lack of workers. A Rs 2.17-crore proposal has been submitted to the district administration to arrange funds for repairing and restarting these plants,” he said.

The Executive Engineer of the Malout Division said Rs 4-crore estimate had been sent to the district administration to make the plants functional.

Both executive engineers, however, said they had not conducted any study on the water quality. “The total dissolved solids (TDS) level in the water exceeds the permissible limit in 122 villages in Muktsar Division and 108 villages in the Malout Division,” a source said.

BJP leader Rakesh Dhingra, a Mohlan village resident who unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly poll from Lambi, said, “These RO plants were installed during the SAD-BJP regime, but these stopped functioning during the tenure of Capt Amarinder Singh. Since then, residents have been facing difficulties in accessing potable water. Besides preparing estimates, nothing has been done on the ground so far.”

Deputy Commissioner Abhijeet Kaplish, however, said that he had no information in that regard.