Following apprehensions over the reported toxicity in the blue-green algae noticed in the Chaliyar, and Iruvazhinjippuzha, one of its tributaries, Kozhikode District Collector U.V. Jose has asked government agencies to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the matter. Water from the Chaliyar is supplied for drinking in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.
Mr. Jose held a meeting on Saturday with officials of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB), and scientists from the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) to discuss the issue.
He told The Hindu that water samples had not been collected yet from rivers in Kozhikode district. “CWRDM scientists had collected water samples from Areekode in Malappuram district and noticed the presence of cyanobacteria. The KWA had stopped pumping there for a couple of days too. But the officials claimed that the situation was not alarming in Kozhikode district as of now,” Mr. Jose said. The Mukkom tehsildar said at the meeting that water was still being pumped for small drinking water projects from Iruvazhinjippuza.
In this context, the Collector instructed the CWRDM, Health Department, KWA, and KSPCB to jointly collect water samples on March 26 from various areas in the rivers in Kozhikode district too. The report will be made available within a week, he added.
CWRDM scientists had advised the authorities to supply only treated water from the Chaliyar and Iruvazhinjippuza after the presence of blue-green algae was noticed there. The KWA, however, continues to maintain that the water being pumped for drinking purposes was safe. Only drinking water for Kozhikode city is now being treated.
Areekode campaign
Meanwhile, the Areekode grama panchayat authorities are holding a people’s campaign from Sunday to address pollution in the Chaliyar, which, they said, was the major cause for the growth of blue-green algae. The local unit of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti, arts and sports clubs, trauma care units, social activists, and religious organisations too have been roped in for the exercise.
