If Ludhiana Municipal Corporation records are to be believed; the water supply system in the city is as old as 100 years. It came into being in 1908.

However, today, a hundred years later, it is a different matter that people of the city feel unsafe when they gulp normal tap water down their throat. Their fears are not baseless.

Over the years, the residents have been drinking water which is of potentially dangerous quality as it is extracted by over a 500-odd tubewells day in and day out from inside the soil that, as studies have proved, contains highly toxic substances.

While recent outbursts of residents over incidents of water contamination have raised the issue which has already assumed dangerous proportions, the health experts are worried about the short-term and long-term repercussions of the consumption of poor quality of water.

The June 11 incident where the residents of Madhopuri alleged supply of contaminated water due to seepage may have been seen in isolation but residents from across the city complain of similar problems every now and then.

"Just a few days ago, we were receiving sand particles in the water supply. This did not only infuriate us but made us sit back and do some thinking how to save ourselves. Besides, the MC has not been taking the chlorination of tubewell water seriously," said Arvind Sharma, one of the three persons of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar who took up the matter of chlorination with the Punjab State Human Rights Commission which has now intervened in the matter.

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