Contaminated water causing kids to fall sick, claim Gulmohar Park residents

New Delhi: Already reeling under intense heat, residents of south Delhi’s Gulmohar Park are now grappling with a severe water crisis too. Several households claim they are receiving foul-smelling contaminated water that appears mixed with sewage, making it unfit for drinking and daily use. Many children have fallen sick over the past few days, with cases of vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, causing serious health concerns.

“The water coming from taps smells foul and changes colour frequently. Sometimes it is dusky, sometimes yellow and at times even black. Children have been falling ill,” Rajiv Chandran, a resident, said.

Residents told TOI they are now dependent on water tankers and packaged drinking water, and are also spending money on repeated cleaning of their underground and overhead water tanks. Low-pressure and one-time supply has worsened the situation in some parts of the colony.

Another resident, not wishing to be named, said, “We have been facing this issue since Monday morning. Since then, we have stopped cooking at home because there is no clean water available for cooking. We are surviving on the food that was already prepared.”

“For now, we are managing with the water stored in our underground tank, but it will last only till Wednesday. After that, we will have to call for a water tanker. We will also have to look for alternatives like ordering food or eating outside,” he added.

Another resident said large quantities of stored water had to be discarded after contamination was noticed. “We had to throw away stored water from containers of 25 litres, 5 litres, 1 litre and even nearly 100 litres because the water had turned dirty and foul-smelling,” he said.

Swati Aggarwal, another resident, said her daughters, aged four years and five months, fell sick. “They were vomiting, had diarrhoea and intermittent fever for the past two days. One of them had to be taken to the emergency ward. She is slightly better now,” she said, urging authorities to address the matter immediately.

The issue was reported from several houses in A, B, C and D blocks of Gulmohar Park. Some residents said they have been facing similar problems for the past one week while others claimed they started receiving contaminated water for the past two days.

There was no immediate response from DJB when contacted.