Kurnool: Collector warns RO units on water quality

Kurnool: While Kurnool city apprehends a situation of severe drinking water crisis, private firms continue to thrive on selling water that is processed by reverse osmosis (RO) method.

District Collector S Satyanarayana on Saturday warned those RO units that do not comply with BIS standards that they will not be allowed to vend water to public. Municipal Commissioner Prashanti was present at the meeting chaired by District Collector.

In a warning to the RO units, the District Collector said that every unit has to be certified by pollution, SSI, ISI and 14 other registration authorities. "We give 45 days time to comply with the guidelines. If you fail, you loose the license", he said.

Some of the residents, however, detected that though the bottlers claimed it was RO processed, what was being supplied to them were cans or bottles that were filled with municipal water.

With the number of apartment buildings coming up on the rise in every colony, drinking water business has picked up. Munemma, a housewife, said that a can of 10 litres gets filled up for Rs 5. But as summer progresses, the cost goes up to Rs 10. The illegal trade has been thriving with the tacit support of political leaders and their henchmen.

Sanjeevaiah, a resident of Venkata Ramana Colony, said that political leaders themselves were running these RO plants and making huge amount of money. With some of the municipal officials being in partnership with the vendors, their business has been flourishing, said Ahmed Khan, a resident of Krishna Nagar.

Rural water scheme superindent engineer Haribabau, food inspector Lakshminarayana and others were present at the meeting.