Most contaminated tap water at Marine Drive, Worli is best

MUMBAI: The water flowing through the city’s taps continues to be dirty. The upscale Marine Drive and congested Kalbadevi and Zaveri Bazaar, all part of C Ward in south Mumbai, recorded the worst supply last year with up to 24% contamination in its potable water.
Contaminated samples often have contents like sewage water, mud or E. coli, which can cause gastroenteritis and diarrhoea.
The Worli-Prabhadevi belt and Chembur got the cleanest water, with contamination of only 5-6%, in 2013-14.Mulund, Colaba and Nariman Point followed closely with samples registering 7% contamination, says the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s latest environment status report.
Shockingly, C ward has received the highest percentage of contaminated water for three years in a row. A major reason, claim officials, is the fact that it is densely populated.
The ratio is 91,991 people per sq km ion C Ward, the highest in the city. Besides the resident population, the footfall of floating population in the ward for business is more than 7 lakh every day. The area houses 38 wholesale markets like Asia’s biggest cloth market, a diamond market, and busy hubs for electronic goods, jewellery, gold, hardware, umbrella, stationery and paper, and Dava Bazar.
According to the BMC officials, the major reason for contaminated water supply is old and bunched water pipelines running through house gullies. “The gap between two buildings is hardly a few feet and residents throw garbage and waste in the gullies, which get blocked many times. If there is any leakage in the pipeline, sewage or waste water gets into the line,” said official. The BMC every month collects water samples from all wards. About 3,500-4,000 water samples are collected every month and tested in the BMC laboratory. On the basis of lab reports, the health department takes preventive measures if the contamination is likely to affect humans. Contaminated samples often have contents like sewage water, mud or E.coli.
Dr Altaf Patel, director of medicine at Jaslok Hospital, said consuming contaminated water can cause gastroenteritis and several other water borne diseases even if small doses of the water are consumed continuously. “In the West, in many countries people directly consume water from the tap but here that’s not the case because if the water is contaminated with any kind of bacteria it can lead to a number of health complications other than gastro, such as typhoid and hepatitis,” said Dr Patel.
Deputy chief hydraulic engineer, Ashok Tawadia, said whenever the BMC receives any complaints of water contamination from housing societies, it inspects the pipeline during supply hours. “Contamination is found either in the form of colour or smell. If we find contamination, we flush out the contaminated water either using a fire hydrant or through a flushing point. Once we find potable water coming in, only then do we allow it to be supplied to residents into the main building tank,” said Tawadia.
E coli has been found on a smaller scale in Chinchpokli, Byculla, Bhendi Bazar, Mazgaon, Kurla, Govandi, Andheri, Goregaon, Kandivli and Borivli. Most areas where E.coli has been found are slums pockets. Usually, contamination complaints increase during the monsoon as due to heavy rains the turbidity in the water increases and stagnant water enters through leaks in the pipeline.
The long term solution to the entire problem is to replace old pipelines, which are a part of the complex water supply network in Mumbai city. The BMC has started the process of changing the pipelines, but it will take time as the process is cumbersome.