Bengaluru: Residents of at least four apartment complexes on Hall Road in Richards Town have avoided the supplied Cauvery water for nearly three weeks after foul odour and discoloured liquid triggered contamination fears, leaving families dependent on borewell supply for daily needs while buying drinking water from outside.Residents said the problem first came to light when an elderly woman in the neighbourhood fell ill. Around the same time, several households began noticing an unusual odour in the water, followed by changes in its colour. As concerns grew, apartment associations stopped allowing Cauvery water into their storage tanks and undertook emergency tank-cleaning measures to prevent further contamination.“We’ve been getting Cauvery water here for more than 20 years without any major issue. Suddenly, the water started smelling bad and changing colour. When I went to take a bath, I noticed the smell and even my child pointed it out. Many others here were facing the same problem,” said Nazim Noor, a resident.Residents said they spent between Rs 12,000 and Rs 13,000 on cleaning their tanks and have since been depending on borewell water for non-potable uses while sourcing drinking water externally. “There are many senior citizens in these apartments. We did not want to take any risks,” Noor added.According to civilians, complaints were lodged with Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) nearly two weeks ago. However, officials struggled to identify the source of contamination despite repeated representations from the affected apartment complexes. “Nearly 10 apartment associations and residents complained. We kept asking BWSSB to check where the contamination was happening, but for days there was no clear answer. Only now has the source been identified,” a resident said.Pritha Kamath, another local, said: “We started getting a strong stench from the water, in the bathrooms and then also in the kitchen. The smell was putrid, like that of sewage water, and the colour was brown. When we checked the sump and overhead tanks, those were smelly and muddy. We’ve had to buy water for drinking and cooking purposes for the past two weeks.”The issue has also raised health concerns among residents. Nagmanjunath Shivakumar, a resident of Regency Park apartment, said he and his wife fell sick around two weeks ago, before the contamination issue became widely known. “We didn’t initially know what caused it. Later, when the contamination issue surfaced, we became even more cautious. Since then, we’ve been bringing water from outside,” he said.Water quality reportFollowing extensive inspections, BWSSB officials Thursday traced the contamination to a damaged house service connection on a stretch near Davis Road. According to officials, sewage entered the Cauvery water pipeline through the damaged connection, affecting the supply to nearby apartment complexes. BWSSB used its latest robotic technology to detect the source of contamination.Officials said they had to inspect nearly 200 metres of pipeline network before locating the fault. The damaged cast-iron connection is now being replaced with a new 100mm ductile iron (DI) pipeline. BWSSB has sought about a week to complete the replacement work, flush the line, conduct water quality tests, and restore normal supply.Residents, however, insisted that they would not resume using Cauvery water until the utility shared the results of water quality tests. “We are scared to even open the taps now. BWSSB should test the water before it reaches our tanks and share the lab reports with residents. Only then will people be confident about using the supplied water again,” said Noor.
