Several leakages in main drinking water pipelines at Jeypore in Odisha's Koraput district have triggered fear of outbreak of enteric diseases.
The public health engineering organisation (PHEO) supplies water through its two main pipelines after purifying it at its Hatisala filtration centre, sources said.
With the main PHEO pipelines are badly damaged near Dhakhin Kali Temple leading to a leakage, people do use the running water for bathing and washing clothes.
The pipelines are also damaged on NH-26 near Dhepaguda and near the bridge of the bypass road to Purunagada.
Koraput District Collector Yamini Sarangi said, "The department concerned has been asked to repair the leakages in the pipelines."
President of 'Sachetena Nagarika Committee', Jeypore, Akshaya Sahu said, "As the pipelines run close to drains there is every possibility of drain wter and other waste materials mixing with drinking water. It may cause outbreak of water-borne diseases."
His apprehension was seconded by the Sub-divisional Medical Officer (Jeypore) Dadhi Baman Tripathy.
"With the supply of such contaminated water continuing there is every possibility of outbreak of diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea, jaundice and fever. We have informed the department concerned about the matter."
Allaying fears, PHD officers of Jeypore said as water flows in the pipelines at a very high pressure, there is little chance of it being contaminated by external sources.
"The pipeline on the NH is frequently damaged due to plying of heavy vehicles," said Assistant Engineer in PHEO (Jeypore) Chitta Ranjan Nayak.
