KARACHI, July 29: The turbid water that the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board has been supplying to the city for the past two weeks has spawned a variety of intestinal diseases.

Officials at the emergency wards of various public-sector hospitals in the city told Dawn on Monday that cases of intestinal diseases had registered a sharp rise over the past two weeks. They added that because no statistical records were maintained, it would be difficult to figure out the exact rise in the cases of intestinal diseases.

Complaints about the supply of turbid water have been pouring in from across the city for the past many days. Newspapers have been highlighting the persistent problem accordingly. But the City government authorities and KWSB officials have not moved — neither solving the problem, nor officially explaining its causes to the public.

The situation has given a spur to the demand for bottled water, with firms of each brand reaping high profits.

Sources, however, told Dawn that the COD filter plant and the NEK filter plant had not been functioning properly because of the rains. They added that every time there was a rain, the level of mud and silt increased which the rivers brought to the city. “It is therefore imperative that the water is filtered. Otherwise, the unfiltered water could wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting people of the city.”

Dr Ashhad Siddiqui of the Civil Hospital, Karachi, said that patients suffering from intestinal diseases had loose motions, diarrhoea and vomiting. “In some cases, they could also develop kidney stones. Muddy water contains coliforms. But then coliforms are present in the water that Karachi gets all year round because the drain that brings the water from the filter plant in Gharo is not covered.”

Officials working at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said that recently a young boy had come with a case of extreme dysentery. “The boy had fainted when his family brought him to hospital. He belonged to a low-income family and had been consuming unfiltered water at home. When he complained of pain in the stomach his family thought that it was a simple case of loose motions. They gave him commonly used medicines which he took with the unfiltered water, thus complicating the case.”

Doctors maintain that because the city is receiving what seems to be unfiltered water, people should either install filters at home or drink boiled water.

A resident calling from Baghdadi wondered why the KWSB was not taking action against those officials who were making the people of the city drink contaminated water and expose themselves to a variety of health risks. “In a civilized society, officials playing with the lives of 14 million residents of a city would be sacked. But not in this country. Here, no heads have rolled at the KWSB for providing filthy water to the city.”