DSI: Mumbai – Sleuths who ensure your water is clean
Last month, water samples collected from Govandi’s Baiganwadi locality tested positive for E. coli, a rodshaped bacterium that can cause illnesses ranging from diarrhoea to pneumonia. The infection can be sometimes life-threatening. Last week, drinking water supplied to Siddharth Nagar, Grant Road, was found to be tainted.
The two cases of contaminated supply, which could have triggered a public health crisis, were swiftly tackled by a little-known team of BMC personnel with a straightforward job title. The squad of 24 disinfectant subinspectors (DSIs) works 24/7 to ensure the water that runs through Mumbai’s ancient pipeline network — at risk of leakage, seepage, theft, and damage by digging — is safe for consumption.
Maintaining sanitation standards in a metropolis like ours is not an easy task, but the DSIs, whose primary job is to collect and test samples, have helped the civic body prevent citywide outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and gastroenteritis.
Mumbai gets its water from Tansa, Bhatsa, Modak Sagar, Vihar, Tulsi, Upper Vaitarna and Middle Vaitarna lakes. The water is treated at the seven reservoirs before being supplied to smaller storage points in each of the city’s 24 wards. From there, it reaches your home.
The distribution system, comprising hundreds of pipelines, is vulnerable to contamination resulting from open defecation, illegal water connections that damage the lines, and excavation for installation and repair of utilities. While residents often complain about finding dirt in their water, sometimes the supply also contains impurities such as metallic residue.
“Water contamination is a serious worry. If we don’t collect samples every day and send them for testing, there could disease outbreaks in several areas. We cannot let that happen,” said Raju Padwal, a DSI in M-East Ward, a high-risk zone that includes Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, and Lotus Compound.
The first thing disinfectant sub-inspectors check for is the chlorine level.
“In every locality, there are five to six points from where we generally collect water samples, depending on the complaints from residents and alerts from dispensaries and health posts. At times, we pick spots randomly,” Padwal said.
DSIs work in eight-hour shifts and their job is complicated by the different timings at which areas get the daily supply. “It could be 1.30 am, 3 am or 4 am, it doesn’t matter. We have to be in the field to collect samples the moment it is released,” he said.
Sagar Pednekar, a DSI in E Ward, said the team took samples from taps directly connected to smaller reservoirs. “Samples are collected in test tubes and glass beakers. We add diethyl-p-phenylenediamine tablets to tube samples to check the chlorine content. The beakers are sent to the Municipal Laboratory in Dadar, which gives us reports within 24 hours,” he said.
The reports specify if the water is safe for drinking or contains any harmful bacteria such as E Coli. Every month, the bacterium is found in at least three to four samples. The figure goes up during monsoon.
“Presence of E Coli is very alarming. Whenever we get such reports, we immediately alert the water department, which then looks for leakages and points where contamination may have occurred,” said Dr Sandeep Gaikwad, a medical officer in E Ward. Every ward has a “sounding mukadam” who uses a sounding bar, a hollow rod, to check for leakages. “We place one end of the bar on the ground above a pipeline and listen out for the sound of bubbles. The presence of bubbles usually suggests a leak,” said sounding mukadam Prabhakar Pawar. “It requires some training and experience to detect the sounds.”
BMC’s epidemiologist, Dr Minnie Khetarpal, lauded the DSI squad’s efforts in helping health officials to prevent a city-wide outbreak of waterborne diseases. “They are a crucial barrier,” she said.
The two cases of contaminated supply, which could have triggered a public health crisis, were swiftly tackled by a little-known team of BMC personnel with a straightforward job title. The squad of 24 disinfectant subinspectors (DSIs) works 24/7 to ensure the water that runs through Mumbai’s ancient pipeline network — at risk of leakage, seepage, theft, and damage by digging — is safe for consumption.
Maintaining sanitation standards in a metropolis like ours is not an easy task, but the DSIs, whose primary job is to collect and test samples, have helped the civic body prevent citywide outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and gastroenteritis.
Shortly after test reports showed traces of E. coli in Baiganwadi’s water, the team identified the cause contamination — waste water had seeped into the supply at three locations — and alerted community health workers who distributed 2,000 chlorine tablets in the congested area. In Grant Road’s Siddharth Nagar, too, contaminants were found in samples collected by the DSI team. Five residents had by then sought treatment for vomiting and dysentery at a municipal clinic. There would have been more cases had different BMC teams, including disinfectant subinspectors, not taken prompt action.
Mumbai gets its water from Tansa, Bhatsa, Modak Sagar, Vihar, Tulsi, Upper Vaitarna and Middle Vaitarna lakes. The water is treated at the seven reservoirs before being supplied to smaller storage points in each of the city’s 24 wards. From there, it reaches your home.
The distribution system, comprising hundreds of pipelines, is vulnerable to contamination resulting from open defecation, illegal water connections that damage the lines, and excavation for installation and repair of utilities. While residents often complain about finding dirt in their water, sometimes the supply also contains impurities such as metallic residue.
“Water contamination is a serious worry. If we don’t collect samples every day and send them for testing, there could disease outbreaks in several areas. We cannot let that happen,” said Raju Padwal, a DSI in M-East Ward, a high-risk zone that includes Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, and Lotus Compound.
The first thing disinfectant sub-inspectors check for is the chlorine level.
“In every locality, there are five to six points from where we generally collect water samples, depending on the complaints from residents and alerts from dispensaries and health posts. At times, we pick spots randomly,” Padwal said.
DSIs work in eight-hour shifts and their job is complicated by the different timings at which areas get the daily supply. “It could be 1.30 am, 3 am or 4 am, it doesn’t matter. We have to be in the field to collect samples the moment it is released,” he said.
Sagar Pednekar, a DSI in E Ward, said the team took samples from taps directly connected to smaller reservoirs. “Samples are collected in test tubes and glass beakers. We add diethyl-p-phenylenediamine tablets to tube samples to check the chlorine content. The beakers are sent to the Municipal Laboratory in Dadar, which gives us reports within 24 hours,” he said.
The reports specify if the water is safe for drinking or contains any harmful bacteria such as E Coli. Every month, the bacterium is found in at least three to four samples. The figure goes up during monsoon.
“Presence of E Coli is very alarming. Whenever we get such reports, we immediately alert the water department, which then looks for leakages and points where contamination may have occurred,” said Dr Sandeep Gaikwad, a medical officer in E Ward. Every ward has a “sounding mukadam” who uses a sounding bar, a hollow rod, to check for leakages. “We place one end of the bar on the ground above a pipeline and listen out for the sound of bubbles. The presence of bubbles usually suggests a leak,” said sounding mukadam Prabhakar Pawar. “It requires some training and experience to detect the sounds.”
BMC’s epidemiologist, Dr Minnie Khetarpal, lauded the DSI squad’s efforts in helping health officials to prevent a city-wide outbreak of waterborne diseases. “They are a crucial barrier,” she said.
