KARACHI, June 28: The Environmental Protection Agency, Sindh, on Saturday collected samples of water from Muslimabad in Landhi Town, where an epidemic, allegedly due to use of contaminated water, has been reported.

Sources in the Agency said that the scientific staff who collected about 18 samples till Saturday afternoon had started biological and chemical test processes at the Environment Monitoring Laboratory of SEPA at Korangi in the evening.

Talking to Dawn late at night, a SEPA official said that the process of determining the bacteriological status of the water samples, which could take 24-48 hours, had already started, in addition to chemical tests which would be complete some time in the wee hours of Sunday.

It was learnt that most of the samples collected by EPA were of the water available at overhead and underground water tanks of the affected houses. “We could hardly draw any water from the water board’s pipelines as those were dried up,” said the official.

EPA sources said that the water sampling and tests had been initiated on the directive of the CM’s adviser on environment, Faisal Malik. DG Sindh Shafiq Khuso also visited the affected area on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the water and sanitation department said that a sample had been tested under the directives of senior officials. On condition of anonymity, he claimed that initial results of the laboratory test had indicated that the water was free of contamination.