Water fit for drinking, says quality control report

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

The quality control test report of water samples collected by the Municipal Corporation from Sector 18 has termed water as ‘fit for drinking’. So far, over 450 have taken ill in Sector 18 due to the consumption of contaminated water.

The report was received by the Municipal Corporation today. The tests were conducted in the Public Health Laboratory at the waterworks, Sector 39, Chandigarh. 

The samples were collected by the MC staff on January 20 from house numbers 1175, 1188, 1158 and 1164 in Sector 18. The UT Health Department, in its report, had already found the ecoli bacteria not present in the water. Besides, the report of the samples of H2S (hydrogen sulfide) collected by the  Meanwhile, the MC staff today continued distributing water to the Sector 18 residents through water tankers. The tankers were placed at different locations in the morning and people filled their buckets. In the afternoon, however, people did not come do so. 

Muddy water complaint 

Residents of some houses in Sector 18-C on Monday again complained of the supply of muddy water. The Municipal Corporation staff visited the area and found that the line linking the house to the main line had been replaced. Therefore, the water supplied was muddy. However, there was no supply of muddy water later, an official claimed. 

How it all started

At 8.30 pm on January 18, residents of the area informed the Junior Engineer about foul smell in the potable water. The next day, MC officials contacted the residents at 6.30 am. They informed senior officials about the contaminated water and immediately tankers were arranged for the area. Initially, the MC officials observed that there was a blockage in a sewer line and a manhole. The MC staff arranged for equipment, cleaned the manhole and the sewer line. Since the people continued to complain about water contamination, the MC checked all water supply lines in the affected area on January 20, detected the fault and repaired it.