THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thousands of residents in the state capital are under the threat of water-borne diseases with the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) supplying contaminated water infested with blood worms and coliform bacteria. This is happening at a time when the city is under the threat of water-borne diseases and facing the worst summer heat ever.
KWA officials confirmed the presence of blood worms in the water pumped from the Vellayani Lake which caters to a large section of residents at Nemom, Karamana, Kalliyoor, Venganoor, Vizhinjam, Kovalam and Vandithadom. The report from the Public Analytical laboratory confirms the presence of coliform bacteria in the water sample collected from a public tap by the District Medical Office here.
Vizhinjam ward councilor N A Rashid said that the water supplied by KWA is not potable. "Potable water continues to be a far cry for the residents in the coastal belt. The quality of the water supplied by the KWA is so poor that we are forced to buy potable water from other sources. We spend around Rs 7 to Rs 15 for buying water for drinking water. We have been facing this for so long and the residents are at the receiving end and are constantly under the threat of water-borne diseases," said Mr Rashid.
According to KWA officials, this is happening because no efforts are being taken by the authorities to rejuvenate or clean the Vellayani Lake. "We are not the authority to clean up the lake. We approached the panchayat, but they don't have funds to do the cleaning. Now we have approached the Collector to release fund for carrying out emergency cleaning," said a top official. The official said that blood worms are edible and don't affect the health adversely.However, the water authorities denied the presence of coliform bacteria. "We have decided to collect water samples from the tap and give it to two different laboratories to cross-check the report from the analytical laboratory," the official added.
