Bangalore — Gastro-enteritis rears its head
Posted on January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Technology, News, Guest Posts, IEC Material, Audio-Video
S.Vishwanath on the recent incidence of gastro-enteritis due to possibly sewage contaminated water in Bangalore:
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There is a spurt of gastro-enteritis in the city today. Residents think that it is the contaminated mains supply from the BWSSB that is the source of the gastroenteritis. The Bangalore water supply and Sewerage Board thinks it is water bought by residents from the private water tankers that is the cause but then seems to change its mind. An Engineer has been suspended for carelessness and the residents are demonstrating in front of the Head Office of the service provider the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. It is feared that the cause may be the mixing up of sewage and water and its absorption into the water lines.
The real problem
It is the complete inability of the institution (BWSSB) to keep the water lines fully pressurized and available 24 hours a day. It is also the lack of accountability of the institution for the quality of water delivered with a residual chlorine levels as specified,which creates the problem. A re-look is needed at the entire structure of water supply in the city and the endemic problems addressed else we will face the same issue time and again. The leakage in the old water pipes is enormous and of the order of 40%. Pipes have not been replaced or upgraded in many places. The sewage system is defunct. Neither is it collected properly nor is it fully treated. People are not paying the true price for water and sewage collection and treatment and subsidies are mis-targeted. Imagine, it costs the BWSSB Rs 18/- to produce a kilo-litre of water and it supplies the first slab at Rs 6/- a kilo-litre to even the richest houses in Bangalore. If the rich don’t pay the true price for water ,the poor will pay with their health as in this particular outbreak suggests. More money will be spent on water filters and assorted treatment devices for water than in setting the system right.
Unregulated private water supply:In the video picture above is a private water tanker supplying water on the 28th of January 2008 in another part of Bangalore. A tanker load of 4000 litres costs Rs 150/- (approx US 4 $).The leaking tank comes and delivers water untested for quality as an expectant family looks on.The family has to buy water because there is a function in the house and the BWSSB supplied water has run out. A sump tank built to receive the BWSSB water, which comes once in 2 days for 2 hours, is all set to receive the tanker water this time.
A bore well about 525 feet deep is the source of the tanker water. It has a 7.5 H.P pump and it takes 15 minutes to fill the tanker.The tankers operate in a zone of 2 km.. The firm has 3 tankers and altogether on an average day they supply 30 loads in a day making for 120,000 litres daily.The first borewell that the firm dug went dry and so the second new one -deeper of course- supplies the water. The tanker water provider has no system of checking for water quality. There is no regulation of tanker water by any authority.
It is necessary that tanker owners and operators are educated on the methods for checking water quality and adopting simple chlorination to the water they deliver. Even people who buy this water can chlorinate it using bleaching powder and a simple chlroscope to check for residual chlorine. Spreading such water literacy is crucial to the public health of our cities.
Key questions emerge:
Why should not the BWSSB supply enough water for the citizens of Bangalore? Why should not the water come 24/7 in our pipes and with sufficient pressure to reach higher floors? Why don’t citizens demand better service from their service providers? Even when we have gastro-enteritis in the city why do we not look for structural improvements in water supply and sanitation for the whole of the city ? Bangaloreans - please wake up and smell the coffee !!
More:
News article in the Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/29/stories/2008012961220300.htm
Short film on how to chlorinate your water:
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3 Responses to “Bangalore — Gastro-enteritis rears its head”
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Short film on how to chlorinate of water is quite informative, but there is need for text for the sharing among people for decimation of information.
Also if film can be downloaded would be equally better and self explanatory.
But precaution to be incorporated in the film and the text
• Quantity of bleaching powder / chlorine granular compounds and its make
• Air / breeze direction is very important while handling the bleaching powder / chlorine granular compounds since chlorine emission is injurious to lungs/ eye etc. – to avoid any accidental breathe in the chlorine gas, person should cover nose wet cloth / hanky.
• The spectators / people watching this exercise should be away from the seen.
• Little hygiene handing of the bucket / glass used in the chlorination of water are equally of great importance.
• Many more small precautions on storage and keeping of used powder etc.
I am afraid that it is not simply coffee that people will be smelling these days in Bangalore.
Thanks for pointing out the probable link between the recent outbreakof of gastro enteritis and intermittent water supply. Unfortunately, far too many people still regard 24/7 water supply as simply an unwaranted luxury and fail to understand that anything less than continuously pressurized 24/7 water inevitably sucks contaminated water directly into the drinking water. One of my biggest disappointments is that the current management of BWSSB (unlike some of its predecessors) no longer sees a need to convert from intermittent supply to 24/7.
It appears that we have two choices: Either we can simply wait until continued outbreaks such as this recent one cause people to “wake up and smell the coffee” (not to mention the Raw Sewage in their drinking water) OR we can encourage Arghyam to assist in a major awareness campaign that helps inform the public about all the relevant costs and benefits associated with intermittent and 24/7 water supply.
Regards,
David
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