PESHAWAR, May 27: A large population of Nauthia locality in the city is facing serious health problems due to the supply of contaminated water to their homes. The main water supply line at Mohallah Fazlur Rehman in Maskeenabad on Pir Langot Baba Road is broken at several points.

As the line passes through the sewerage line, sewage gets frequently mixed with potable water, making it unfit for human consumption. The locals fear an outbreak of water-borne diseases in the area as most of the women and children of Mohallah Fazlur Rehman were suffering from diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis B after drinking the water.

"Though this contaminated water can cause dangerous diseases, the people have no option but to use it," said a schoolteacher of the area. The locals said they had complained to the authorities concerned time and again about the problem, but to no avail.

The contaminated water was being supplied to the area for the last two years, they added. Some residents said they had lodged a complaint with the Nauthia Jadeed union council Nazim and city Nazim Azam Khan Afridi, but they refused to get repaired the damaged pipeline on the pretext of paucity of funds.

Even the nearby cantonment board general hospital had refused to provide treatment to the ailing people, the locals said. But a doctor of the hospital, when asked, said they were providing treatment to the residents of Maskeenabad.

He said 70 to 80 per cent people of the area, mostly children, were suffering from diarrhoea, 50 to 60 per cent adults from typhoid and 30 to 40 per cent had infected hepatitis B virus.