The incidence of waterborne diseases is on the rise in the state. In all, 917 cases of acute diarrhoea were reported from the city in the last four months, of which 80 were detected in the last one week. In this context, the task force of the health department held a meeting and decided to take steps to prevent contamination of water and food. In Anantapur district, 98 cases of acute diarrhoea were reported in the past one week. Waterborne diseases were also reported from Putlur of the same district. "Because of the scarcity of water, people are consuming contaminated water in some places,' said the state health department director, Dr Ramesh Chandra. "We are taking it seriously and have asked all the departments to provide chlorinated and safe water to public.' The health department is coordinating with panchayat raj and municipal administration departments in this effort. "We are also linking up with the social welfare department and schools department to ensure supply of safe drinking water to students in schools,' he added. "We are also taking steps to prevent deaths from sunstroke.' The health department has also asked the municipal administration to prevent water leakages from pipelines. There has also been an increase in the incidence of food poisoning cases in summer. In Gorrupidi village of East Godavari, 16 cases of food poisoning were reported on April 3 and 13 cases were reported from Gandham Vaarigudem in Nalgonda five days later.