Woraiyur water safe to drink, says Tiruchy Mayor Anbalagan

CHENNAI: Three days after water contamination issue was brought up as three persons reportedly died, the Tiruchy City Corporation resumed drinking water supply to Wards 8, 9 and 10 at Woraiyur on Wednesday, amid residents’ continuous complaints of receiving contaminated water.

The Corporation also denied the allegation that deaths occurred due to contamination and declared that the water was safe to consume.

After the water contamination allegations, the civic body had collected samples of water from 15 locations in the three wards at Woraiyur for lab analysis and also took steps to prevent the mixing of sewage in the drinking water. “The entire stretch of pipelines was attended, the tanks were emptied and the fresh water was chlorinated before the supply and the water supply was resumed at around 9 am,” an official said.

Mayor Mu Anbalagan along with the zonal chairperson Vijayalakshmi Kannan visited the spots and conducted a door-to-door inspection soon after water supply resumed. The Mayor and officials drank water fetched from the pipeline in presence of the residents and also examined the chlorine level in the water.

He also asked the residents to boil water and drink and appealed to the people not to spread rumours about the water quality as the lab assessment certified that the water was consumable.

Subsequently, he visited the residents who have been undergoing treatment for vomiting and diarrhoea and asked them to report grievances to the civic officials to prevent the spread of rumours.

Meanwhile, a section of residents who collected water from the pipelines charged pointed out to the unusual colour of water and said that it was still unsafe to drink. They also claimed that the Mayor’s visit was just an eye wash and circulated the video of collecting water from the pipelines that are reportedly contaminated.

However, the civic officials said that the colour change in water was due to chlorination and it got reduced after a few hours.