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Still busy in tracing the cause of Guillain-Barré Syndrome patients in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Thursday said that the sample test report of water supplied to residents of Sinhagad Road was not contaminated with disease-causing bacteria, but there was a need to provide treated water in the area at the earliest.
“As per the preliminary reports, there is sufficient residual chlorine found in water samples. The tests have revealed that it is not contaminated with disease-causing bacteria,” said the laboratory report of civic water supply department.
However, the water supplied to the area is merely disinfected, it said adding the water is muddy and so ‘zooplankton’ cannot be controlled in the water. Hence it is necessary to provide filtered and treated water to the residents as early as possible.
Meanwhile, the civic administration is now focusing on the possible contamination due to drainage seepage in the area.
“The maximum GBS patients are from Sinhagad Road area which was recently merged in the civic limits. The samples of water being supplied to residents of the area was tested and no contamination of water was found,” said municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale.
He said the reports have revealed that the source of water is clean. “We visited the affected area of Sinhagad Road and have now decided to check whether there is leakage of old drainage lines that is contaminating the water in localities. Meanwhile, the administration is taking extra precaution to increase chlorination of the water that is supplied to the residents from the well as it is raw water,” said Bhosale.
The PMC has formed 75 teams which are doing house-to-house survey in Sinhagad Road area, gathering information of any patients in the locality and simultaneously creating awareness about GBS and ways to take care. Pamphlets are being distributed for public awareness, he said.
The municipal commissioner said the teams will also appeal to citizens to drink only boiled water and avoid eating roadside food.
