C V Nagarj, member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat, writes
Mysore Grahakara Parishat has been periodically testing tap water in Mysore and reporting the results to the public. The quality of drinking water in Mysore has been declining steadily and the latest survey shows that it has hit a new low.
Dr. Ajay Memorial Drinking Water Foundation and Mysore Grahakara Parishat conducted a summer camp for a select group of eighteen high school students recently. The programme consisted only of various experiments (concerned with environment) conducted by the students themselves.
One of these experiments was testing of drinking water. Each student collected tap water from his or her home and tested it for bacterial contamination using the Manja test (Hydrogen sulphide paper strip test) which is a very reliable test for bacterial presence. Thirteen out of the eighteen samples (72%) were found contaminated (out of which 11% were extremely contaminated, 56% highly contaminated and 5% moderately contaminated).
This high figure of bacterial contamination is ominous since it is well-known that contamination increases after the monsoon begins. The first rains bring in a heavy load of organic matter to the KRS reservoir. It is very difficult to filter the turbid water containing a high load of organisms. So the water that comes out of the filtration unit in the water treatment plant still has a lot of suspended organic material in it. Chlorination is not 100% effective against pathogenic bacteria if there is a lot of suspended organic matter in water and so the danger of contaminated water which is already high will increase even more in the next month.
The students participating in the summer camp also tested water from bore wells for dissolved salts. Total dissolved salt (TDS) content varied from 600 milligrams per liter to 1,500 milligrams per liter in the eighteen samples tested. According to drinking water specifications (IS 10500:1991) of the Bureau of Indian Standards, 500 milligrams per litre is the desirable level for TDS. Therefore, TDS of all the bore wells tested exceeded this level. Excessive TDS is known to cause cancer and other diseases.
A bacteriological test of bore well water was not conducted. But it is very likely that most of the bore wells are also bacterially contaminated. A survey conducted by Mysore City Corporation in 1999 had showed that 47% of the bore wells were bacterially contaminated. It is estimated that this percentage has now gone up to more than 70%.
MCC authorities are saying that the situation can not be improved until the JNNURM project to overhaul water supply in the city is completed. It is a misleading answer since the JNNURM project will only upgrade the water supply infrastructure. But if MCC does not improve its water treatment, we may get 24x7 water, but it will be unsafe water.
The citizens of Mysore would be well-advised to purify water before drinking it. They can use water purifying kits such as Aquaguard or boil water or immerse a clean (EC grade) copper sheet in the water for 24 hours to kill the harmful bacteria (For more information on these and other methods, call Prof. A. Ramalingam at 6568892).