Several residents in Vitthalwadi locality in Narayanguda are having a miserable time with polluted water tickling down their taps.
Following an uproar, the Water Board took up investigation on Thursday and found at least seven individual connections to be damaged. As a result during the non supply hours, the pipes are sucking the sewage water around the pits and the same is getting distributed, officials said.
Most of the pipelines here are old and rusted. “We are checking the entire line and it is too early to say how many connections are affected,” said J. Ramakrishna, deputy general manager, HMWSSB, Narayanguda.
Earlier in the day, irate residents staged a demonstration before the HMWSSB office in Narayanguda to protest against the supply of polluted water. About 100 persons, including women, gathered at the HMWSSB office and raised slogans demanding supply of pure water.
They displayed bottles containing coloured water.
According to residents, the problem was occurring for the last two months but the HMWSSB did not bother to rectify it. “Several complaints have been made to the Board but there is no response”, said Keshaboina Sridhar of Narayanguda.
Besides being coloured, the water supplied through taps here smells awful.
“For the first 15 minutes we allow the water to flow out and only then we collect it” said Mr. Sridhar, who is also a BJP leader.
Water pollution is haunting several slums in the Himayathnagar division for the last one-and-a-half years. Areas like Chandranagar, Old Kamela, Gandhi Kuteer, Indranagar, Ramarao Nagar and Rajmohalla have been plagued by water contamination. “Authorities are only providing temporary respite without finding a permanent solution to the problem,” resident said.
However, officials traced the problem to the worn out domestic connections. When the line was dug up, the GI pipes were found damaged and bore signs of earlier repairs. “It is in their own interest that the residents replaced their domestic pipelines instead of repeatedly repairing and using them”, Mr. Ramakrishna said.
However, for the time being, the department wouldn't mind replacing them, he said.
