Petroleum presence found in well water in Kakkanad

Kochi: Presence of petroleum found in the well water of an apartment complex in Kakkanad is causing issues for residents. The residents are now knocking at the doors of various govt departments and agencies like pollution control board (PCB) to identify the cause.According to the residents of Skyline Palmtop, they first started to notice the issue in Dec 2025. “We dug up the well around 12 years ago and had been drawing water for meeting the drinking water purpose of all 72 apartment units in our complex. Though we lodged complaint in this regard with district collector, PCB and other agencies, there isn’t any solution so far,” said Goergekutty Kariyanappally, president of Skyline Palmtop Owners Association.“We had to dig up a borewell around 15m away from the well to meet our daily water requirements,” he added. The residents suspect that a leak in the pipelines drawn by various petroleum companies or chemical factories may be causing the presence of petroleum.