Doctors caution against drinking from any ground water sources.
Garbage has been piling up in Chennai. An estimated 15,000 tonnes of it. And, it is rotting faster than usual because large parts of Chennai are still water-logged.
In Kotturpuram, one of the worst affected areas, municipal workers are busy clearing whatever they can. The drinking water tankers here are parked in slush. People queue up, in knee-deep dirty water, to get clean water for their homes.
The municipal corporation has about 25000 workers on the rolls but attendance has been poor. "Many people are badly affected and absenteeism has been very high. That became a big problem,'' says Vikram Kapur, commissioner.
The corporation has 20000 workers, including those outsourced from Ramky, to clear the usual up to 5000 tonnes of daily garbage. But not even half the number has been turning up for work. Add to that accumulated garbage over the last nearly one week and a huge amount that people are throwing out, after the flooding damaged a lot of stuff.
Apart from the garbage Chennai generates every day, people have discarded a lot of items that the rain damaged.
Everywhere, garbage that has not been cleared and the health risk it brings is the biggest complaint now. In Varadarajapuram area of Egmore, like in many others, locals themselves got down to do the job of collecting and making dumps of the garbage on the corners of the streets, so it is easy for the corporation vans to pick it up.
"We understand there are not enough people to do the job. So, all of us, youth, auto drivers, shop keepers, all of us got together to clean up,'' says Lawrence, a resident. "We are also appealing to the people to keep the area clean in our own interest."
The corporation has now mobilised 1600 extra workers from other districts. The roads to the garbage dumping yards at Perungudi and Kodungaiyur which were blocked till yesterday, have got cleared today, so they are ready to receive garbage.
Health secretary Dr J. Radhakrishnan says the challenge is huge. "We are asking people not to drink from any ground water source. We will supply water. They must clean and sterilise using chlorine tablets, bleaching powder, and then only start using their ground water source."