Their water is deadly cocktail of diseases

NEW DELHI: What's worse than not getting water is getting a trickle that can't be put to any use. That's the plight of more than hundred families in New Rajinder Nagar's R-block who have been getting contaminated water for days now.
Already, 60 people are suffering from water-borne diseases, most of the victims being children. The 900-odd housesholds here, who have to wait for a trickle early in the morning or late in the evening, now have to deal with stinking, yellow water which they claim has been mixed with sewerage water.
A few DJB tankers are their only saviours. "We have been getting this smelly water for the past four days. A complaint was filed with DJB but they said the correction procedure will take some time.
Till then we will be forced to spend Rs 200-300 everyday for buying mineral water," said D M Narang, general secretary, New Rajinder Nagar RWA.
Affected families say that everyone has been complaining of symptoms of congestion, stomach ache and cough. The worst-affected have been the children.
Displaying a glass of water which was pale yellow in colour, Charu Ahuja, resident of R-694, said: "It stinks like sewage water and can't even be used for washing utensils.
Four members of my family have fallen ill after drinking this water, including my one-and-a-half year old grandson and 85-year-old mother-in-law".
Others had similar woes. "Five members of my family have been affected. My husband developed diarrhoea. The doctor said everyone got the infection due to consumption of contaminated water," said Ambika Miglani, another resident.
R S Dewan, the vice-president of the RWA, said that eight of 10 members of his family had fallen sick. "The medical treatment is another added expense. We already spend so much on buying mineral water for our families everyday," he said.
Residents said that when DJB officials had visited the area, they had detected leakages in several places in the main water supply line, where the water was getting mixed with sewerage water.
"We have tried contacting the quality control people several times to show them a sample of the water supply here but never got any response from them," said Narang.
When Times City contacted DJB, they were told by V P Sharma, executive engineer, that the problem had been taken care of. "We do routine check-ups but can't check every house.
The water supply lines are underground and finding the exact point of leakage takes time. We took action on the complaint of contaminated water and even sent water tankers immediately. If anything happens again we will take action," he said.