Deccan Chronicle       30.06.2010

June 29: The Metro Water Board and Chennai Corporation have appalled health experts by deciding to increase chlorination levels in public water supply to 10 ppm, which is 6 ppm more than the safe limit prescribed by the Central Public Health Organisation.

This knee-jerk reaction of the civic bodies to the recent outbreak of diarrhoea in many areas may end up being a cure that is worse than the disease. Experts point out that an increase in residual chlorination (RC) levels may cause serious health risks such as stomach disorder and related complications.

On June 3, a joint meeting chaired by corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) managing director Shivdas Meena was convened to devise a coordinated strategy to combat diarrhoea.

The meeting decided to maintain 10 ppm (parts per million) of residual chlorine at water distribution stations and the following day, superintending engineers instructed the field engineers to comply with the new RC level.

Complaints of chlorine odour and frequent stomach disorder complaints had been pouring in at the local office, CMWSSB field engineers revealed. Though the civic bodies claim that the chlorine content would come down to nearly 2 ppm when it reaches the tail end, the truth is that most people would have consumed highly chlorinated water by then.

“When the RC level increases to 10ppm, water loses its palatability and starts to emanate the odour of chlorine,” said noted health activist and DASE founder G. Ravindranath.