BMC drinking water quality improves
Water samples from 10 out of 24 wards were detected with zero E. coli.
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has managed to meet its target of supplying better quality drinking water to Mumbaikars.
As per the hydraulic department’s water quality report of April 2018 to January 2019, out of the total water samples collected, only 1.02 per cent was detected as unfit for drinking.
Also, the percentage of E. coli, bacteria created by sewage that causes gastrointestinal diseases, detected was only 0.13 per cent.
“The quality of water supply has increased due to the removal of a bunch of connections and the replacement of old water mains. Now the unfit-for-drinking water per cent, which used to be more than 10, is 1.02,” said a senior BMC officer.
The water and health department in the last 10 months had randomly collected 30,158 water samples across the city and only 309 were found unfit for drinking and in which 38 samples were found with E. coli.
Few areas which received high-quality drinking water were Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Mulund, Kandivali, Malad, Bandra (east) and Santa Cruz, Andheri (west), Vile Parle and Byculla. The areas from where the unfit water samples were detected included Chembur, Dahisar, Borivali and Masjid.
Water samples from 10 out of 24 wards were detected with zero E. coli.
In 2014-15, the percentage of contamination in drinking water was 4.41 per cent, which reduced to 1.38 per cent in 2017-18.