In a recent check, the district health department, Gurgaon, found that the water supplied to 174 areas of the city was unsafe for drinking. The water, it found, did not have sufficient amounts of chlorine to kill harmful bacteria.
It is the responsibility of the civic authorities to add chlorine to water before supplying it to residential areas for consumption. Health department volunteers collected water samples from 1,200 areas and conducted an orthotolidine test, which determines the amount of residual chlorine in water. The samples were collected from areas where water is supplied from the Basai water treatment plant, such as sectors 14, 17, 16, 18, 22 and 23, Palam Vihar, MG Road and the DLF sectors.
It found that the chlorine content in 174 samples was much less than the prescribed level of 0.5 parts per million (ppm).
According to doctors, if the chlorine in the water is less than the prescribed amount, there may be an increased risk of gastro-intestinal diseases, which attack the stomach and the intestine. "It can also lead to diarrhoea, typhoid and Hepatitis A," said Dr Manish Jain, from Navjeevan Hospital. "I suggest people boil water before drinking or cooking."
The health department has written to the concerned departments, including the MCG, HUDA and the PWD, to keep a check on the quality of water.