Bacterial content way above limit in Manipur’s River & pond water

Source: The Sangai Express

Aizawl, May 17 2011: Testing on the quality of water in most rivers and community ponds of Manipur has led to the unsurprisng revelation of high content of bacteria.

As part of the Central Pollution Control Board funded National Water Quality Monitoring Programme, Manipur Pollution Control Board set up as many as 70 water testing stations in different parts of the State since last month and conducted the Total Coliform Test on the water collected from rivers and community ponds.

The test results have shown that in every 100 milligram of water the bacteria content ranges from 1000 to 5000 MPN (Most Probable Number) .

Talking to The Sangai Express in this connection, Principal Scientific Officer of Manipur Pollution Control Board, Dr M Gonchandra pointed out that in accordance with the announcement made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1984 on the quality of water, the content of bacteria should be less than 4 MPA in every 100 milligram.

But the test result of the water drawn from the rivers and community ponds of Manipur has indicated a high level of bacteria content, which is alarming.

On the possible reasons for the high content of bacteria, Dr Gonchandra explained that it may be due to draining out of untreated domestic solid waste which ultimately landed in the rivers and community ponds, polluting the water in the process.

Leaving the biochemical wastes without proper treatment, construction of latrines along the river banks or releasing the outlets of such latrines into the rivers directly are also other possible factors for high level MPN in river water, Dr Gonchandra said, adding that with rise in the mercury level, the decomposition process of solid wastes becomes faster and this can increase the level of MPN in water.

Pointing out that MPN level with regard to drinking water should be zero, Dr Gonchandra informed that use of water from rivers and community ponds with high bacteria content, either for cooking or drinking purposes and even bathing, without proper treatment may lead to health complications like dysentery, typhoid, etc.

He further disclosed that poisoning of water, have also been detected during tests the conducted under different parameters along with testing up 70 water testing stations at different parts.

The report of the findings would be forwarded to the Central Pollution Control Board for necessary action and remedial measures.

On the other hand, cases of diarrhoea and dysentery among children in the age group of 0 to 13 years over the last one month is reportedly on the rise in Manipur.

In this regard, Child Specialist Dr Th Nabachandra informed The Sangai Express that apart from cold diarrhoea which is common during winter, cases of water borne diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery has been rising among the children of Manipur lately.

ICMR questions latest superbug study, DJB says don’t panic

New Delhi: A day after the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal reported the presence of a deadly gene in drinking water samples from New Delhi, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) questioned the intention behind the study. The Delhi Jal Board, on its part, said there was “no need to panic”.

The New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene can turn many types of bacteria into deadly superbugs.

Dr V M Katoch, Director General of ICMR and Health department Secretary, told Newsline that researchers were unnecessarily trying to create panic in the country. “There are thousands of genes causing multi-bacterial resistance besides NDM-1, and they are found in all parts of the world. The need to focus only on NDM-1, and that too only in India, is questionable.”

The journal said that the NDM-1 gene was found in 51 seepage samples and two tap water samples of the 171 seepage samples and 50 tap water samples collected from the Capital between September 26 and October 10, 2010. The article, published on Thursday, has been co-authored by Professor Timothy Walsh and Dr Mark Toleman of the Cardiff Institute of Medicine — the same scientists who were behind the superbug ‘expose’ last year.