This story is from March 16, 2022
Khuldabad
civic body have revealed that the water is “not fit for drinking”. The samples were found containing thermotolerant coliforms, indicating faecal pollution, either from human beings or warm-blooded animals. The historical town situated on the outskirts of the city has a population of around 25,000. The Indian Standard drinking water specification states that “ideally, all samples taken from the distribution system should be free from coliform organisms”. As per the reports issued by regional public health laboratory, barely any of the samples collected in the past few months have been found potable. The latest report dated February 28 concluded that all the eight samples of drinking water collected have been concluded not fit for drinking. Khuldabad’s medical superintendentSuhas Jagtap
told TOI, “Depending on the findings of the test, we keep alerting the civic body to take necessary preventive and corrective steps.” He, however, refused to comment on the issue citing that he is not a subject expert on the issue. When contacted, Khuldabad municipal council’s chief officerRahul Suryawanshi
confirmed receiving the reports. “Water pipelines are around 45 years old and at many places, the pipeline runs parallel to nullahs. Also, due to high number of connections, there are many leakages,” he said.As a solution to the problem, a tender for replacing the existing water pipeline was floated. However, the tender worth over Rs 17 crore did not find any takers. Failing to find any solution to the long-pending demand for getting potable water, local activistAbdul Majid Maniyar
has filed aPIL
in the Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court. Taking cognizance of the plea, the HC formed a four-member committee that on Monday collected samples of drinking water being supplied to the residents of Khuldabad.