The Pune civic body has sealed 19 private RO plants in the Nanded village area, the epicentre of the GBS outbreak, after tests confirmed that the water from these facilities was unfit for drinking, officials said on Wednesday.
During the day, four fresh cases of suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare nerve disorder, were reported in Pune district, taking the overall tally in Maharashtra to 170, they said.
The now-sealed privately owned reverse-osmosis (RO) plants, located in the Dhayari-Nanded area, supplied bottled water to a large number of people in the vicinity.
Following the crackdown, the water supply department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) announced plans to formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent the distribution of contaminated water in the area.
“During the investigation of the water samples collected from some privately run RO plants, it was found that the water from 19 such RO plants operating in the Nanded and adjoining area, was unfit for drinking.
Accordingly, all these 19 RO plants were sealed and their functioning has been stopped,” said Prithviraj P B, additional commissioner of PMC.
Meanwhile, Nandkishor Jagtap, head of the PMC’s water supply department said they found Escherichia coli bacteria in the samples collected from these 19 RO plants.
In the wake of the discovery of E.coli, private water suppliers have been asked to use the bleaching powder solution provided by the PMC to ensure that the bacteria is contained, he said.
