Karwar: With the recent floods and deluge in Uttara Kannada contaminating many open wells and leaving their water unfit for drinking, district officials have begun filtering their water and even pumping them dry if neccessary.
The heavy rain in early August this year left 105 villages in the district waterlogged, forcing the district administration to shift as many as 10,000 people to safer ground and temporary shelters. The open wells in these parts were also flooded, leaving the people with no water to drink.
Once the flood receded after about a week, the officials got to work to make sure it had not contaminated all of the district's drinking water and lead to spread of water-borne diseases. Alarmingly, of the 1475 water samples tested recently, only 623 were found to be satisfactory for consumption, and 852 were certified unfit.. And even after 710 of the water bodies were chlorinated, only 228 were found fit for supplyng drinking water, according to official sources.
Swinging into action, the Uttara Kannada district authorities are now filtering well water in areas where it is not in a very bad condition, and is pumping the water out of the wells if they are heavily contaminated.
"We are taking all steps to ensure that the people get good potable water. Until the wells are cleaned and able to supply drinking water again, we are providing water through tankers," said deputy commissioner, Dr Harish Kumar.
District Surveillance Officer, Dr Vinod has advised people to drink only boiled and cooled water as a precaution against the likely outbreak of diseases during this season.
