Water in 50% of Ratia schools found unfit for drinking

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, May 24

Drinking water in over 50 per cent schools and anganwadis of Ratia sub-division in Fatehabad has been found unfit for consumption.

The samples were tested on kits supplied by the Water Supplies and Sanitation Consultancy (WSSC) team of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department to the schools and anganwadis.

The department is now trying to play down the issue and said the samples would be tested again in the department’s laboratories.

Sharma Chand Lali, District Coordinator of the WSSC team deployed by the PHE Department, said 100 kits each were distributed among government schools and anganwadis in Ratia sub-division for collecting samples of water after directions of the Sub Divisional Magistrate during a meeting on sanitation.

The teachers as well as the anganwadi staff were trained in use of the kits and the WSSC team members collected samples from a number of schools, including government schools in Lali, Lalwas, Ratta Khera, Rattangarh etc. Lali confirmed that more than 50 per cent of the samples have failed in chemical and bacteriological tests during laboratory tests.

While the chemical tests reveal whether the drinking water has been chlorinated and treated or not, the bacteriological test is meant for detecting the presence of harmful e coli in the drinking water.

Adarsh Singla, Sub Divisional Officer of the PHE department at Ratia, however, said the department would get the samples tested again.

He said the process of taking samples again has already begun.

“The WSSC team had distributed kits for taking samples, but they perhaps did not tell the teachers about the procedure to be adopted while taking samples,” said Singla. He said his Executive Engineer Vinod Siroha was empowered to reply to questions in this regard.

When contacted, Siroha said he was collecting information in this regard from his staff and would be in a position to tell something only after that.