Devolution of more powers to panchayats in the management of national rural drinking water mission and the issues of arsenic and shortage of drinking water will figure prominently at the two-day national conference of state ministers of rural drinking water supply and sanitation beginning in New Delhi tomorrow.

Some officials of the Water Board seem to have found an easy way to solve the problem of water contamination in the city. Citizens complain that they have received SMSes from officials stating that the water pollution complaints lodged by them have been attended to and the problem solved.

“I was shocked to receive the SMS on my mobile phone stating that the water pollution problem in my area has been solved. How is it possible when no official has visited my area? What’s more, I am the complainant and none of the officials contacted me to even cross check or confirm whether the water pollution complaint has been attended to before sending me that SMS,” said C. Shankar, a resident of Old Ghansmandi.

The State government on Thursday informed the High Court that it would hold negotiations with Andhra Pradesh government with regard to providing drinking water to Pavagada taluk in Tumkur district from the pipeline, part of which passes through Pavagada, laid by the neighbouring State to supply water from Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka.

The government counsel made this submission during the hearing on a PIL plea filed by the Karnataka Rashtriya Kissan Sangha and other organisations from Pavagada taluk seeking supply of drinking water through this line to their taluk which is facing water shortage.

New standards for drinking water will come into force in China on July 1, with the number of quality indicators rising to 106 from 35. While that's almost on a par with the standards used in the European Union, some experts have raised concerns about the feasibility of the new system.

"There are about 3,000 water companies in China. Judging by their production technologies and their quality-testing facilities, most still have a long way to go before they can meet the new standards," said Li Fuxing, director of the Beijing Institute of Public Health and Drinking Water.

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the chief secretary, provincial irrigation and health secretaries and chief of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board in a petition against the supply of contaminated and unhygienic water in the city.

The villagers in Kaluarachchiyagama in the Nachchaduwa Divisional Secretariat Division who have been suffering from an acute shortage of drinking water will now be provided water under the Thuruwila water supply project.

Parliamentarian Shehan Semasinghe and Provincial Cooperative Minister H. B. Semasinghe have initiated the implementation of the water supply project where construction work inaugurated recently.

Pipes will be laid in around 20 kilometres from the Thuruwila water project. The estimated expenditure for the project is Rs. 10 million.

China's capital will spend 118 million yuan ($18.66 million) by the end of the year to improve the quality of drinking water drawn from wells, the city's water resource management authorities said Wednesday.

The quality of drinking water for about 300,000 people will be greatly improved following technical modifications to 54 wells, the Beijing Water Authority said.

Improvements will first be made to wells that are known to have safety risks, as well as those that serve areas that do not have access to tap water.

LUCKNOW: Lucknow Municipal Corporation's decision to rope in experts from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to examine the works done under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, one of Centre's, is likely to put the centrally-appointed monitoring committee under a scanner. This is because all the works carried out in the state capital went through the monitoring of the committee appointed by the central government. And, it was on the basis of the monitoring committee's reports that funds were released by the Centre.

KOCHI: In a major initiative to find a solution to the drinking water woes of West Kochiites, a Rs 1,000-crore project is being prepared by the state government in association with various agencies. The project, which is expected to be completed in three years, will benefit the residents of Varappuzha, Cheranalloor, Eloor, Mulavukad and surrounding areas. The project is being planned as part of the Japan-aided drinking water project, said Hibi Eden MLA.

Agitated over the State government's plan to allow sand quarrying again at the dry Nambiyar riverbed in the district, residents of various villages in Radhapuram taluk submitted a petition to Collector R. Selvaraj on Monday against the move.

Unlike the Tamirabarani, the Nambiar would very rarely experience flood even during active monsoon. Naturally, sand deposit on this riverbed is not so dense and deep.