NEW DELHI, 20 MAY: Every second person around the city corner is drinking contaminated water, reveals a survey by the three civic bodies.

 In a survey of water samples, the civic bodies tested 569 samples out of which 79 were found unfit for drinking. Thus 14 per cent samples failed the test which translates into 1.4 of every 100 individual is being supplied contaminated water in Delhi.

According to the test report, the worst hit areas in terms of contaminated water supply are Civil Line and Paharganj zones of North Delhi Corporation where all the water samples failed the test. The officers of the civic bodies had picked up eight water samples from Paharganj and 21 water samples from Civil Lines area but all the water samples were found unfit for drinking. The situation in Najafgarh area was slightly better where 28 per cent samples failed the test followed by 26 per cent in Narela. The report is based on the water samples tested by the three civic bodies in the week ending 18 May.

In the survey, the water samples of city zone, west zone, East Delhi and South Delhi were found quite satisfactory. So far in this summer, the three civic bodies have tested 9,453 water samples of which 595 were found unfit for drinking. Among the unit water samples 536 were from North Corporation areas, 50 from South Corporation and nine from East Corporation area.

But the water samples jointly picked up by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and civic bodies present rosy picture of its quality. In the same week ending 18 May, the joint team tested 569 water samples in Delhi of which only seven were found contaminated. Out of these seven failed samples two were from North Corporation and five were from East Corporation area. "The officers of DJB pick up samples from posh areas which have better upkeep system so there results are better. But these results are far from ground reality," said Mahinder Nagpal, leader of House in North DMC.