Drain water flows from taps-Bangalore-Cities-The Times of India

Drain water flows from taps-Bangalore-Cities-The Times of India

Bangalore : Tap water may as well come from the drains for residents in several parts of the city. “Grey or black in colour, and smells
like hell,” that’s how residents describe their water supply. And they’ve literally suffered it for several months now.

Walking down Cambridge Layout, you slowly realize that you're in high-fever zone! 76-year-old A B S Ramana has high fever and is also taking quinine as his doctor suspects it to be malaria. Prema Devraj’s mother-in-law is also down with high fever. All thanks to the clogged sewage water in side drains, which attract quite a few mosquitoes. What’s worse, for over two months now, the drinking water line is almost sinking into this mess. “This despite our regular complaints to BWSSB” they say.

More stinkers:

Shadabnagar in Kaval Byrasandra is a thickly populated area plagued by unhygienic conditions. A drinking water line was broken as a result of work at a construction site recently. The unrepaired line has led to an unhealthy cocktail of sewage and drinking water. The Cauvery water here is brown, sedimented and smells foul. Even the wells yield black water.

Since people here are mostly from poorer sections, buying packaged drinking water or getting stock from tankers is unaffordable. They have to go at least 2 to 3 kms to get water even for washing purposes.

The children have been worst affected. Many are down with diarrhoea and typhoid. A few others frequently get high fever.

“We approached the MLA, but no action has been taken yet,” complain residents. Surrounding areas like Muneshwarnagar and Ashwathnagar are also affected, although it's nothing new. These residents suffered from similar water woes last year.

Dandapani has been living behind Anjan theatre on Magadi Road for the last 45 years. This is the first time he's come across such heavily contaminated water. "We got black, foul smelling water for at least 25 days!'' he complains. Almost 300 houses in three cross roads (6th-8th cross) received such water.

One of the pipelines supplying water was broken and much of it was contaminated by a parallel sewage line. After repeated complaints to the BWSSB office and the local MLA's intervention, the problem was finally attended to on Saturday evening. However, residents have their fingers crossed till Wednesday, when water will be supplied after repairs.

What’s the way out?

According to BWSSB spokesperson, most thickly populated areas get contaminated water supply. “It’s because of abuse of side drains. People even clog sewage lines with sanitary napkins and wastes. And a few areas also have old pipelines. We are working on replacing them in most areas frequently affected,” he said.

Those facing similar problems can call 22945114.