Railways admits its water unfit to drink, test flawed

NEW DELHI: Drinking water supplied by the railways on platforms and its staff quarters in the northern states is contaminated with bacteria found in human excreta

NEW DELHI: Drinking water supplied by the railways on platforms and its staff quarters in the northern states is contaminated with bacteria found in human excreta that cause stomach aches and loose motions.

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The railways admitted for the first time it persisted with a flawed water quality monitoring procedure, which considered the presence of up to 10 units of thermo-tolerant coliform bacteria (TCB) in 100ml samples as being “permissible”.

The Bureau of India Standards says the presence of TCB is a sign of faecal contamination that can cause acute gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and dysentery.

“Usually, it is nothing to worry about and people might recover within a week, but in children, elderly and people who have a compromised immune system, TCB can cause life-threatening conditions,” said Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, senior consultant, Indraprastha Apollo hospital.

The contamination is happening because only half of the railways’ 541 water chlorination plants in New Delhi, Punjab, parts of UP, J&K, Haryana and Himachal Prade-share working. Chlorination is necessary to kill harmful bacteria.

The railways admitted as much in response to a petition in the Delhi high court recently.

“We are abandoning the Indian Railways Medical Manual (IRMM) procedures and migrating to the Uniform Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Protocol (UDWQMP),” a senior official said.

Water at stations such as Delhi contain multiple times more TCB than tap water supplied by civic agencies, says a 2005 survey.

(With inputs from Anonna Dutt)