BENGALURU: Concerned by the ‘foul smelling’ water in Narsapura lake, one of the large lakes where KC Valley secondary treated water is being pumped, the Narsapura gram panchayat has started distributing pamphlets asking villagers to avoid the direct consumption of piped water. They also insisted that the villagers drink only filter water.
The warning was based on a report by the executive engineer for rural water supply and sanitation, who had found that the quality of borewell water was not fit for consumption. All the borewells that supply water to villages in the said Panchayat have been dug in the lake bed of Narsapura lake.In the pamphlet issued by the office-bearers of Narsapura gram panchayat on July 31, they have noted that water in Narsapura lake is contaminated.
“You all know that water in Narsapura lake has been contaminated and a foul smell has been emanating from it. We had sent samples of water collected from borewells to the executive engineer. Following tests, he has submitted a report that the borewell water was not fit for consumption,” it read.Therefore, people should not drink the water or allow animals to drink it, it added. It also listed a set of precautions required to be followed to ensure that people are not affected by the contaminated water.
When contacted, gram panchayat president Shailaraj said that they were not certain of the source of contamination. “Residents had started complaining about the bad smell in borewell water itself. Three factories discharge effluents to the lake often and even KC Valley project water had entered recently. Though we don’t know the cause for this, we tested borewell water samples,” she said. Due to the results of the test, villagers were advised to filter the borewell water or boil it before drinking,” she said.