Contaminated water in Shillong: Meghalaya CM orders inquiry

Days after the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) alleged that residents in Shillong are drinking unsafe, contaminated water, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has ordered an inquiry into the matter. While maintaining that residents in the capital city have access to water through a wide network, Conrad Sangma clearly said that his government is not taking the matter lightly.
The Meghalaya Chief Minister commenting on the issue said, “I have asked the department (PHED) to conduct an inquiry into the entire process and especially 46 tanks that they (FKJGP) have mentioned. And also to ensure that we go in to all the other areas, that are there, it is a large network, large system and therefore we need to ensure that we take all the aspects into consideration. But as I said, we are not taking anything lightly, we will examine all the factors.”
Sangma further said, “We have more than 1000 tanks that are there run by different localities, by municipal, by PHE and other distribution agencies. Secondly, the PHE department conducts tests regularly and their reports have come out normal. Therefore, we are continuously doing and will continue to do so in the future. Thirdly, the water comes out from a source and then it is distributed through many networks of municipal, PHE or local private lines into different tanks again owned by locals, sometime privately, PHE or municipal. Hence, when the water flows through these systems, there could be things that can happen. So we need to examine. But having said all of these things we take the report seriously.”
On October 3, a delegation of FKJGP met Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in Shillong and submitted a report based on the tests conducted by State Food Testing Laboratory, Commissionerate of Food Safety located at Pasteur Hills, Shillong. The FKJGP collected water samples from 46 localities of Shillong, and found the water in at least 44 localities contaminated. It had presence of Coliform and E Coli organisms.
The FKJGP also claimed that the water had low pH value, high turbidity, and iron content above the prescribed limit, which clearly indicates that the water is unsafe for consumption as per FSSAI standards.

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