Health officials conducted checks on lorries transporting drinking water in the city on Wednesday and found that five out of 15 vehicles were carrying unhygienic water. As a result, District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam ordered that water tankers stop sourcing water from polluted sources.
Water in the five tankers was found acidic or alkaline and non-chlorinated, making it unsuitable for human consumption. The water from the tankers was drained out at the spot and the lorries were handed over to the police for further action. The rest of the tanker lorries were let off with a warning for not maintaining the mandatory water quality.
The inspections were carried out on the orders of the Collector by the Health squad headed by District Medical Officer Haseena Mohammed and District Health Officer (Rural) P.N. Sreenivasan.
Dr. Mohammed said that orders had been issued to inspect all the 46 identified sources for collecting drinking water. All the sources need to be checked for quality at least once a month.
The inspections would be continued in the coming days as a precautionary measure to check communicable diseases.
