Mumbai, December 29: Driven by sheer desperation caused by an unprecedented water crisis, residents in Shivajinagar, Deonar, Trombay and Mankhurd, have resorted to digging illegal wells in their own backyard and drinking poisonous water — almost 70 per cent of which is contaminated with the deadly enterovirus which causes polio.
The polio-causing virus passes from infected faecal matter, contaminates ground water and finds its way into humans though the mouth.
Not only that, WHO tests carried out on the samples from these wells, have revealed the presence of other crippling viruses too — hepatitis and cholera to name two.
Consuming this deadly cocktail every day makes the people vulnerable to a number of diseases, but none as grave as polio, which has technically no cure, and to eradicate which the government has spent nearly Rs 26 billion till date.
For nearly 10 years, residents of Govandi and adjoining areas have been facing an acute water shortage. With the BMC and police coming down heavily on illegal water mafias, illegal wells have sprung up all over the city, especially in hutments and settlements that have gone thirsty for days.
Given the unsupervised way in which these wells have been dug, BMC sent samples of the water from here to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for testing. According to the officers of WHO, Mumbai, nearly 70 per cent of this water is contaminated with the polio-causing virus, making it unfit for human consumption.
Elaborating on the reports, Dr Vivek Pardesi, surveillance medical officer of the WHO (Mumbai) said, “The water in these wells gets mixed with sewage water and is not fit for drinking or any other domestic purposes.
Not only does this water contain the polio-causing virus, it also contains germs that can cause hepatitis and diarrhoea. I am surprised how people can consume this poison!”
According to the WHO officials, not only are the slums in this area are surrounded by the creeks, there are several sewage pipes that pass underground. The water leaked from the sewage pipes gets mixed with well water contaminating it beyond repair.
“The residents are not just exposed to the risk of polio but also other dangerous diseases like Hepatitis E and A. Especially vulnerable to all these diseases are young children,” said Abhay Choudhary, director, Haffkine Institute for Training Research and Testing, which has tested for similar viruses earlier in samples collected in different parts of the city.
–Agencies