Worms pour with water!
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18/05/2008
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Deccan Herald (Bangalore)
The Corporation quarters on M M Road in Cox Town, opposite the Government Boys School, which houses 10 residences has been receiving coloured drinking water contaminated with worms for over a week. Leakage of water through the old corroded pipes in the area is said to be the cause for it and BWSSB has temporarily rectified the leakage on Friday. The week, though, was a tough one for the families here, who were beset with various ailments and were initially clueless about the cause for them. It is the first time that the quarters is experiencing such a problem. Many residents were down with stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea for the last seven days. Rs 1,000 for treatment Homemaker Saraswati has shelled out nearly Rs 1,000 for her treatment which included drips. "I was suffering from intense fever and vomiting since the night of May 16 and finally went to a local clinic nearby after three days. The cause was attributed contaminated water,' she said. Six-month-old Usman, his brother Samiullah, his sister and mother Yasmeen were also victims of the contaminated water. Homemaker Varalakshmi said, "We have been getting water either from the revenue office on the opposite side or purchasing bottled water the whole of last week.' N S Ravi, president of the Bhartinagar Residents Forum finally brought the matter to the notice of BWSSB on Friday morning and the engineers landed up there. 20 years old Bangalore East Engineer Manjunath said that the pipes were over 20 years old. "As the quarters belong to BBMP, it is their responsibility to replace the corroded pipes. I will request them to replace the pipes,' BWSSB has also added more chlorine to the water supplied from its High Grounds service station. However, despite the rectification of the pipe, residents said they were apprehensive about drinking the water. Chief Engineer, BWSSB, Venkataraju said that BWSSB was routinely testing samples from different parts of the City, including Shamanna Gardens, and none of them showed traces of contamination.