Random checks carried out by municipal health inspectors have found that several pockets of Delhi are exposed to contaminated water, unfit for drinking.

Samples from Ballimaran in Chandni Chowk, slum clusters around Jama Masjid, areas in Karol Bagh, Azadpur Mandi and even Nirankari Colony — the residential area of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) near Kingsway Camp — have tested positive for faecal contamination, Health department officials have said.

Health authorities have said the impure water is behind the sudden spurt in water-borne diseases in the city.

In a meeting with the DJB on Tuesday, Health department officials have made it clear that the Jal Board has to rein in the situation before illnesses go out of control. Civic authorities said 284 cases of cholera have been reported in the Capital.

DJB officials put down the source of contamination to old pipelines, some “as old as fifty years”. Officials said parts of these pipelines have corroded over the years, opening up the possibility of sewage water mixing with drinking water.

Delhi Health Secretary J P Singh told Newsline: “Samples collected by health inspectors were clearly unfit for drinking. We have directed the DJB to supply better water. We have also found the DJB had not chlorinated the drinking water in many areas.”

Meanwhile, DJB officials have said that water at this time of the year has very high metal content. DJB’s Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Negi said: “Since the groundwater level has sunk very low, there is a heavier presence of metals in the water. This gives the water a brownish colour. This problem can be seen mainly in unauthorised colonies were people draw water through borewells.”

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