Kochi: The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has cautioned the public in flood-hit areas to drink only boiled water after its study collecting samples from nearly 9000 wells in six affected districts found presence of harmful bacteria.
"20 per cent wells were found to be highly contaminated. We recommend water in such wells to be drained out completely before performing super-chlorination process. We're making a list of highly contaminated wells based on the test results. A separate examination will be held to find the sources for high contamination," said a senior Pollution Control Board official.
A review meeting to be chaired by Local Self Government Minister A.C.Moideen and attended by PCB Chairman K Sajeevan will be held on September 22 when an action plan will be formulated.
However, the Pollution Control Board official pointed out that there is no need to panic as 80 per cent of the samples showed 0-60 per cent bacterial contamination which can be overcome by boiling the water for at least three minutes.
"The test results very classified into three sections - those wells from which water can be consumed after boiling, those wells which need chlorination and those wells which need super-chlorination after draining out water completely. Nearly 1800 wells were found in the last category," the official said.
The samples were collected from a municipality and a panchayat each from Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Thrissur and Wayanad districts.
In Ernakulam, the samples were collected from Paravur (municipality) and Kalady (panchayat).
