Is it water or poison?

The idea that the piped water supply we get at home should be so dirty that it kills us, can be shocking for many; but this is what we witnessed in the Capital recently. A four-year-old girl and a 45-year-old man died and over 50 residents of NCERT Colony, South Delhi, had to be hospitalised after they were supplied contaminated water and developed stomach ailments.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) immediately washed its hands off the incident saying it delivered clean drinking water up to a local reservoir; from there it must have gotten polluted in the CPWD supply lines. On the other hand, the Central Public Works Department claimed that its distribution network is fine and DJB’s cracked water pipes must have sucked up sewage.

Residents and environmental experts, though, are asking ‘Is anyone in this city responsible for providing us clean drinking water? Who is accountable for the loss of these innocent lives and the health of many more?’

SA Naqvi, a former engineer at DJB and presently running an NGO ‘Citizens Front for Water Democracy,’ says, “It is true that DJB caters to the city in two ways. First are the areas under its own jurisdiction where it provides individual connections and water right up to the tap. Then come the localities under DDA, CPWD, MES etc, where DJB deposits the water in an underground reservoir and from there, the parent agency delivers it to each home.”

“However, it is extremely unfair for DJB to say that it is responsible only till a reservoir. Water is an issue related to life. The government can’t provide clean water halfway and then leave people to fend for themselves. When you have to check for mosquito breeding, you get into each house to check even pots and cups, and when it comes to drinking water, you say ‘only till the tank’.”

The problem, though, is not just restricted to what DJB thinks is its responsibility, but also how it executes it. Experts have a problem with the number of samples picked up for quality checks every day - just 400 in a city of over 40 lakh houses - and also how these tests are done.

Dunu Roy, director, Hazards Centre says, “DJB has only three parameters to check for contamination. First, the chlorine test. Chlorine is added to water at the treatment stage itself to kill germs. So higher the chlorine, purer the water. Then the iron test to check if the supply pipes have rusted. Lastly, they see if there are any dissolved solids to suggest sewage mixing.”

“Effectively, there is no test for germs. Ideally, they should check for nitrates coming from dead organic matter, pesticides from agricultural runoff, heavy metals from industrial waste and coliform from sewage. DJB’s tests are suited to convenience, easy to measure with their small kits.”

A perennial problem is the agency’s infrastructure. Nitya Jacob, Director – Water, Centre for Science and Environment, says, “Many of our colonies in South Delhi were established back in the 50s. Pipes get cracked within 10 years. Additionally, in India, our underground water and sewage pipes run alongside. When the former are empty, they suck in sewage from the adjoining pipes. Motor pumps also put pressure on the lines to pick up either dirty water or snap.”

“It goes without saying that care is required at many levels. The authorities will have to reinforce their systems. It is a shame for the Capital to lose lives to dirty water.”