An
adequate supply of pure water, along with an efficient drainage and sewerage
system, is most essential to ensure good health of a population. Although the
consumption of water depends upon climatic conditions, standard of living and
habits of the people, a daily supply of 150 to 200 litres (34~40 gallons) per
head is considered an adequate allowance.
Supply of Filtered Water to The City
In
its early years, Kolkata, or, the then Calcutta had its water supply from open
tanks, wells and the river Hooghly. The staunch Hindus used nothing but Ganga
waters from the Hooghly River. A certain Baboo Baishnacharan Sheth of Burra
Bazaar made a fortune by supplying the holy water to far off places. Wealthy
Hindus got their supplies either from Hooghly Town or from Khulna for the
apparently purer flow there. The water would be filtered through sand and
charcoal, after immersing a red-hot iron rod into it and stored in Pegu jars
for as long as a year. The river water was fit for drinking only from October
to March. From April till the onset of the monsoons, it was saline. The water
when turbid was clarified by alum and strained through cloth. Some people
collected rainwater and used it when the river water became turbid during the
rainy season.
In the native part of the city,
numerous private wells supplied water to the poorer people, living away from
the river. These privately owned tanks were foul smelling and unsanitary, and
the water too polluted for human consumption. The Europeans often used stored
rainwater. The Great Tank at Dalhousie Square (now BBD Bag), popularly known as
Lal Dighi, was enlarged and deepened in 1709 to ensure a good supply of sweet
water to the garrison at Old Fort William and for the British in Calcutta. Many
private tanks were also excavated but subsequently decayed due to absolute
neglect.
Not much initiative was taken by the
European authorities to improve the civic amenities of the city even after it
became the capital of British India in 1773. In fact, it was only in the early
nineteenth century that things began to improve.
At a meeting of the “Town
Improvement Committee” held on June 16, 1803 Lord Wellesley admitted: “It is a primary duty of the government to
provide for health, safety and convenience of the inhabitants of this great
town by establishing a comprehensive system for the roads, streets, paths,
drains and water by fixing permanent rules for the construction and
distribution of the houses and public edifices and for the regulation of
nuisance of every description”. It was during his regime that the “Town
Reforms Committee” was formed for improvement of the town. Since the
construction of the public drains and watercourses of the Town was extremely defective,
he assigned great importance to the improvements of its drainage and water
supply systems.
This led to the appointment of a
Committee in 1804 to look into the matter. This “Improvement Committee”, later
called the “Lottery Committee”, undertook extensive development work for the
city.
The Lottery Committee excavated a
number of tanks between 1808 and 1837, chiefly along the arterial road from
Lower Circular Road to Shyambazar at Cornwallis Square, College Square, Wellington
Square, Mirzapur, Soorti Bagan, along with several tanks in Shorts Bazaar.
The ‘native town’ too had a number of private
tanks, sometimes open to the public. By 1847, the total number of tanks within
the Maratha Ditch was 1,043. It appears from the Administrative Report of the Calcutta
Municipality for 1,877 that there were within the boundaries of the city some
800 tanks covering an area of 146 acres. In the suburbs, Bhowanipore alone had
823 tanks in 1888.
However, with the growth of population, the existing
system was found inadequate, and by 1820, a small pumping plant was set up at
Chandpal Ghat for lifting river water into open masonry aqueducts that
distributed the water by gravitation over a small portion of the town comprising
Old Court House Street, Dharamtola, Chowringhee, Park street, part of Chitpore
Road, Lal Bazaar, Bow bazaar, etc; The aqueducts were filled with water pumped
from the river Hooghly by a small pumping station at Chandpal Ghat and settled
into a settling tank from where the water flowed into the aqueducts by gravity.
Water could be taken from the aqueducts by buckets and the supply was also used
for street watering and replenishing the public tanks.
The authorities for the first time recognised the
need for pure and wholesome water in 1848 and passed the legislation Act
II. The Commissioners subsequently spent
large sums for repairing the public tanks. In 1854, the system of aqueducts was
extended to Wellington Street, Wellesley Place and College Street. The cost was
borne by the Government and the public.
Clark recommended the use of cast-iron pipes laid
underground, through which water could be forced from Chandpal Ghat. The
Commissioners, however, on the grounds of expense and delay in obtaining
materials from England, did not favour the innovation.
Between December 1861 and January 1863 an elaborate
analysis of the Hooghly water was carried out by collecting samples from the
centre of the stream at 6 feet below the surface at three stations, namely from
opposite Cossipore, Palta Ghat and Chinsura.
It was observed that the Cossipore water was
tainted by sewage, and the plan of placing the intake pipes at this point, courtesy
low cost, was abandoned. The analyst reported that water drawn either at Palta
or Chinsura was comparatively pure, and after settling and filtration would
give a pure and wholesome supply. Clark’s original scheme provided for a daily
supply of 3 to 4.5 million gallons of water.
In 1865 Clark submitted a full report on the Palta
scheme that was approved in its entirety by the Water Supply and Finance Committees
of the Corporation, who recommended that the works should be carried out by
contract under the supervision of the Justices, instead of the supply being
placed under the control of a water company.
The first water works for the supply of filtered
water to the City was built at Palta (about 30 kms north of the City Centre
situated between Barrackpore and Naihati) and took three years (1867-1870) for
its construction. It was designed for supplying 6 million gallons (27.28
million litres) of treated water every day to a population of 4 lakhs, thus
giving a per capita supply of 15 gallons (68litres) per day.
In order to obtain the full advantage of the
waterworks and to avoid the depreciation that iron pipes were expected to
undergo owing to the salinity of the soil, Clark was in favour of conveying the
water from Palta by a brick aqueduct instead of through iron pipes, but his
views were subsequently modified.
Two pumping stations were built — one at Tallah and
the other at Wellington Square — along with two underground reservoirs with
capacities of 1 million gallons (4.546 million litres), and 6.25 million gallons
(28.41 million litres) respectively. The filtered water from Palta to Tallah
was conveyed by gravity through a 42 inches (1067 mm) diameter cast-iron main
laid at a gradient of 1 inch. Water used to be pumped from Tallah under
pressure partly to the consumers direct and partly into the underground
reservoir at Wellington Square from where again water used to be pumped to the
consumers.
The daily consumption of water was 4.5 million
gallons (20.5 million litres) by 1870, and all the principal streets and lanes
(385 in number) were piped, to a total length of piping aggregating 111.75
miles (179 kms). Over 500 stand posts were erected in the streets and made
accessible to the public.
It was soon found that the
working of the filters was unsatisfactory during the rainy season. In 1871 thus,
engineers proposed to increase the number of filters and to make other
extensive works. With the increasing demand for filtered water the problem of
water wastage began to assume great importance.
As a measure of economy, the extension of the unfiltered water supply
was extended for street watering, fire prevention and trade. Gradually, an additional engine was
installed at Tallah, the pumping plant at Chandpal Ghat was strengthened, and
unfiltered water supply was further extended.
The supply of filtered water, however, did not exceed 7 million gallons
daily. It soon became evident that the works should be enlarged.
to be continued
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