Will you drink this contaminated water?

MiD DAY investigations reveal that water in up-market areas in the city, like Pune Cantonment Board, is contaminated with human refuse and dangerous E. coli bacteria

Would you buy a Rs 60-lakh sprawling 1,000 sq feet flat in Pune's posh M G Road suburb or pay less than half the price for a similar flat in far-flung Pimpri-Chinchwad. Where do you think would you get the best amenities?
MG Road?

Wrong.
A PMC water testing report that followed checking of samples across the city for the six months ending January 20 reveals that of the four samples that tested positive for contamination until January 20, two were from the posh Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) neighbourhood.

Contamination
In September and October, only samples from PCB area were found to be contaminated. On August 10, two of the 14 samples that were found to be contaminated were from these suburbs.

On an average, samples from at least 12 places in the city test unfit for human consumption every month. Shockingly, a majority of such samples come from the PCB neighbourhood, which includes the posh suburbs of M G Road, East Street, Camp, Moledina Road and Ghorpadi Market.

Besides PCB, other areas where water samples were found contaminated are Swargate, Wadgaonsheri and Shukruvar Peth. Far-flung Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has surprisingly fared better when it comes to the quality of potable water.

"Test reports reveal that none of the samples tested in October and December were found to be contaminated.
We did detect contamination in six samples in November though," said Prashant Jagtap, chemist, PCMC.

'Be careful'
Water samples checked by PMC were found to have human excreta, coliform and the dreaded E Coli bacteria.

"Contaminated water causes severe diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, vomiting, jaundice, typhoid and hepatitis A.
u00a0People should ensure their drinking water is free of such contaminants," said Dr Renu Bhardwaj, microbiologist, Sassoon hospital.