Shopkeepers and residents along the Karur Bypass near Annamalai Nagar in the city have complained of receiving contaminated drinking water in their taps.
Commercial establishments along the Karur Bypass had complained that they had been getting contaminated water supply for the past four days. They suspect that the cause of the contamination was a leaking sewer line. The sewage apparently mixed with the drinking water supplied by the Tiruchi Corporation.
Following the complaints, the Corporation has deputed a team of engineers and workers to determine the cause of water contamination. However, the team is yet to find the spot where the fault had occurred. Pits have been dug along the road. But these pits had been filled with rainwater.
A Corporation official said the cause for the fault could not be found as a disturbance that caused the seepage could have happened elsewhere, causing joints in the pipeline to come loose and thus the sewage could have mixed with potable water in the area. “Someone might have drilled into the ground at night. Any kind of drilling to set up bore wells or any heavy drilling in another area along the road could have caused it. This makes it difficult to locate the fault,” he said.
The official said they had received complaints three days ago from commercial establishments along the Karur Bypass. He pointed out that there were no residential houses along the road barring a few. “The commercial establishments take longer to bring it to the notice of the Corporation. In residential areas, the water is used daily and the people bring it to the notice of the Corporation immediately,” he said.
The official said it was suspected that water supplied in the pipeline along the stretch between the Karur Bypass and the Salai Road was contaminated as no complaints had been received from Shastri Nagar or Salai Road.
Official said steps had been taken to fix the problem quickly and expressed confidence that the source of contamination would be found in a day or two.
