KARACHI, Oct 6: Private water tankers doing roaring business in the water-starved localities are playing havoc with the health of people as they are drawing water from hydrants operating unlawfully in the city.

In support of their contention that most of the private hydrants are selling unhygienic water, a source in the city government’s health department says that since a maximum number of private hydrants are situated on the banks of Lyari River, one cannot rule out possibility of filthy water seeping in to their reservoirs.

Reiterating the stand that the health department had neither issued any licence nor a no-objection certificate to any private hydrant, sources in the city government claimed that most of the hydrant-operators did not get their water tested periodically from laboratories and, therefore, they would seldom apply for the required NOC for their hydrants.

Though such unauthorized hydrants have been doing their business on the plea that the water they are selling is meant for construction and industrial purpose, drivers of a significantly big number of private tankers, after drawing water from these hydrants, park their vehicles in the periphery of the KWSB hydrants so as to give an impression as if the water is fetched from the KWSB hydrants.

While visiting the KWSB hydrants for booking of a tanker, consumers often fall prey to the phony tanker operators who would offer quicker service than the Rangers-managed KWSB tanker service.

“In fact, such private tankers are, on the one hand, selling unhygienic water and, on the other, destroying the city’s roads (owing to their leaking nozzles) and causing accidents,” they said.

Inquiries made in this regard further show that not only the number of private tankers and hydrants have increased considerably over the past few days, but the quantity of water being supplied through the KWSB hydrants has also gone up by three million gallons per day (from 10mgd in 2001 to 13mgd at present).

The sources said that although it was mandatory upon owners of private hydrants to obtain an NOC from the city government’s health department and also get quality of their water tested periodically from laboratories, most of the hydrants were openly flouting such rules.

Asked about the status of those avoiding the testing, the sources said that a hydrant could not be operated legally unless it displayed prominently the inscription informing consumers that the water was not meant for drinking purpose.

“The private hydrants selling unhygienic water have not only become a source of serious stomach diseases, but also devastation of roads and streets visible elsewhere in the city,” they added.

Attributing the growing number of such cases to the consumption of water supplied by unauthorized hydrants, doctors fear further spread of such diseases in the form of an epidemic in the localities which completely depend on private tankers’ water if the authorities failed to check the sale of poor quality water unfit for human consumption.