Reports of Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE) cases detected in parts of town have caused concern among the public, especially those residing in low-income settlements, as the cause of the outbreak could be contamination of drinking water supplied by the Public Health division of the Public Works Department.

Cases of AGE have been reported in Kosapalayam, Mudaliarpet, Odiansalai and Lawspet during the last few days prompting government intervention at various levels. According to a resident of Govindasalai in the town, several people in the locality developed vomiting, loose stool and abdominal pain after consuming piped water. Many of them were taken to the Government General Hospital and treated as in-patients, he said.

“We suspect water contamination due to mixing of sewage. We regularly face the problem of bad odour and blackish water. Successive governments have been giving assurance to improve the quality of water supplied,” S. Rathnammal, a resident of Odiansalai said.

Following the outbreak, the government had asked the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College to investigate the cause of illness to people admitted in the hospital. Several teams from the college visited the affected areas and tested water samples.

While results of water samples tested from some of the affected areas are awaited, findings of tests conducted on samples collected from three places in Mudaliarpet and six areas in Odiansalai have indicated unsatisfactory quality of water. “The unsatisfactory quality of water in the samples tested from some of the areas indicate possibility of contamination of drinking water in the distribution system,” said a doctor at Government Medical College.

The reports of water contamination triggered immediate protests with Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Independent legislator Nehur alias Kuppusamy organising separate protests in front of the Public Works Department early this week. On Thursday, former Chief Minister and Congress leader V. Narayanasamy hit out at the AINRC-BJP government for its failure to provide potable drinking water to residents.

Responding to the test results, the government has asked the Public Works Department to conduct a field survey in the affected areas to detect overlapping of sewer lines and drinking water.

Minister for Public Works Department K. Lakshminarayanan said teams from the PWD are visiting affected areas to identify the cause of contamination. “We will have to find out the exact location of overlapping and then take corrective measures. The teams have been asked to find the exact cause of contamination and take corrective measures. In the meantime, we have started distributing can water in the affected areas. In Govinda Salai and Sakthi Nagar alone, more than 1, 500 cans are distributed every day,” he said.

The Department of Community Medicine, in its report to the government, has recommended measures to arrest any further outbreak of AGE. The recommended measures included effective chlorination at both source, storage level and conducting ortho-toluidine test to verify the adequacy of chlorination. People have been asked to consume water after proper treatment, preferably through boiling or filtration, to minimise the rise of water borne diseases.

The department has advised the government to increase frequency of water sample collection and testing at multiple points within each Primary Health Centre. Further, the department has stressed the need to establish a dedicated helpline number for reporting AGE cases and for alerting authorities about suspected water contamination.