‘Yellow water may be from Upper Vaitarna’

After residents around the city started complaining of receiving yellow-tinted water in their taps over the past few days, civic officials said, on Thursday, that it could be because water from Upper Vaitarna dam had been released recently after a long break.

After residents around the city started complaining of receiving yellow-tinted water in their taps over the past few days, civic officials said, on Thursday, that it could be because water from Upper Vaitarna dam had been released recently after a long break.

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Officials also clarified that the yellow-tinted water was not harmful.

“The civic body supplies water from six lakes, and we started releasing water from Upper Vaitarna a few days ago. There could be some soluble mixed with the water which the chlorination process couldn’t get rid of,” said an official from the civic hydraulic department.

“We are trying our best but could not find the source of the yellow tint. We are keeping an eye on the water supply and have been testing it daily. A report of Wednesday’s test shows that though the colour of the water is yellow, it is not harmful to humans,” said Vinay Deshpande, civic hydraulic engineer.

Since September 2010, after the monsoon, BMC stopped supplying water from Upper Vaitarna as a hydraulic strategy and started releasing it only a few days ago. The Hindustan Times, in a series of stories, has reported that water contamination in the city had been rising.

The contamination levels in all 24 wards ranges between 19.90 to 39.30%. Last year, contamination levels ranged between 8.24 to 25.50%.