Sewage-like water triggers cholera fears
Not only parts of Delhi are facing an acute shortage of water but the little supply that they are getting has been found unfit for drinking.
Not only parts of Delhi are facing an acute shortage of water but the little supply that they are getting has been found unfit for drinking.
Maximum water samples taken from east and north Delhi were found unfit for consumption during studies by the three new civic corporations. The situation on the ground is no better for the posh south Delhi. Though a recently-conducted joint survey by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the Delhi Jal Board had given a clean chit to south Delhi an earlier independent study by SDMC found 60% of the water samples to be contaminated.
As many as 50 per cent water samples taken from north Delhi have failed the test. "I am sure that the Delhi chief minister doesn't get this water. The water that we are getting smells of sewage. Let aside drinking it, we can't even use it to wash the floor," said Nandini Kapoor, a resident of South Extension.
The city, which was reeling under a severe water crisis till last week, is now living under the fear of water-borne diseases. "I don't know whether the DJB has sufficient infrastructure to treat the water before it is supplied to our homes," said Shailendra Sharma, a resident of Karol Bagh.
"We have never witnessed such shortage in the past ten years. After two days of non-supply, when the water finally came, it was full of dirt and was not fit for consumption," said Ashok Bhasin, president of North Delhi RWA Federation.
Water samples tested by the civic bodies also revealed that the water supply in the Capital is getting increasingly contaminated and remains inconsumable even after boiling. "In some of the zones, the water supply is greasy. There is always a danger of water-borne disease such as cholera. There's no reason why Delhiites should consume poison," said Mahender Nagpal, leader of the house, North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The Delhi government charged the civic bodies with fabricating reports and politicising the issue. It had recently claimed that the water supplied was safe to consume.