Residents get muddy water

Water from the first phase of the Krishna Phase III project reached many localities on Tuesday. However, the water was mostly greenish, with mud and other undissolved particles.

Close to 50 per cent of the supply was polluted and most of it could not be stored. People were thus worried that this might become the norm.

Officials, however, said that the polluted water was due to linking works and that the quality would improve. Mr B.T Srinivas, a resident of Malkajgiri, which is one of the worst hit areas as far as water supply is concerned, said, “We received very dirty water, not drinkable at all. Fearing that it would be the same in future, we approached the Board and officials said the pollution was due to the mud in the new trunk lines, which were integrated with Malkajgiri supply reservoirs. The Water Board had not informed regarding this beforehand and had not educated their own managers either.”

Residents received dirty water from Kamalanagar, Kushaiguda, reservoir to the Rajendranagar circle, especially in the areas where new water pipelines have been installed. Around 70 per cent of residents stored the supply only for washing purposes.

Iona Lynch, a resident of Arul Colony, A.S. Rao Nagar, said, “The water was very muddy; we just filled up the tank for washing purposes. Fortunately we had the previous supply of water and with that we are managing till the next supply. The water was green, however, it did not smell. We hope the supply of water does not remain like this.”

Former Congress MLC M.S. Prabhakar Rao said, “Nothing has improved in the core and peripheral areas, firstly they need to construct a water treatment plant specifically for Krishna Phase 3; how can they supply contaminated water to the city? Many areas get water for half an hour and out of that if 20 minutes’ supply is of dirty water, what will people store?”