The struggle for clean water in Vijayawada Premium

Vijayawada residents face water contamination crisis leading to diarrhoea outbreak, raising concerns about public health and safety.

On the evening of May 27, Padma received an anxious call from her son in Hyderabad. He asked if she had heard about a new virus spreading in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, where one person had already died following severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and dozens of others were falling ill.

“The pandemic had also begun in a similar manner. Out of nowhere, the media was agog with news of Coronavirus. Before we could understand anything, the infection had spread far and wide. This situation now feels no different,” says Padma, a resident of Patamata Vaari Veedhi street in Moghalrajpuram area of Vijayawada.

According to the official numbers, about 50 people, a majority of whom belong to the economically weaker sections and cannot afford mineral water or purifiers, had been affected by diarrhoea in the city’s Boyapati Madhavarao street between May 21 and June 2.

Later, cases were reported from other areas of Vijayawada too, including Payakapuram and Ayodhya Nagar. Residents say if the cases from these two areas are also included, the count would be much higher.

An official, seeking anonymity, explains that people can fall sick only when there is either cross-contamination of pipelines or presence of high chlorine.

But doesn’t such a large number of people falling sick together point to contamination? Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Commissioner Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar maintains that tanks are cleaned on a regular basis, and therefore, contamination can be ruled out.

However, from the outset, medical and municipal officials have tried to play down the situation, blaming it on the food the affected persons may have consumed, or a change in the weather. Soon after, though, there was talk of this being a case of water contamination, reminiscent of the February incident in Guntur city in which at least 120 people were hospitalised.