Over 1,000 people fall ill in two Karnataka villages after drinking contaminated water

Udupi (Karnataka): More than one thousand residents at Uppunda in Udupi district fell ill after drinking contaminated water from a local overhead water tank, Health Department officials said on Friday.

"The condition of none of them is serious. Most of them have already recovered with proper medication from the local health centre," an official said.

The affected, mostly from Karki Kalli and Madikal wards of Uppunda Gram Panchayat in Byndoor taluk, had reported symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, they said.

"Many households witnessed multiple family members displaying similar symptoms, with several homes reporting three or more individuals being affected after drinking water from overhead water tank in Kasinadi," an official said.

The Udupi district health officer Dr I P Gadadh said strains of "waterborne pathogen salmonella bacillary" were found in the water supplied to the two wards.

“We have sent a team to investigate this condition to both villages and the nearby villages that use the same water source, on September 30 and we had found the strains of this bacteria in 56 cases. Till today, we have found about 150 cases," he said.

According to Gram Panchayat members of the two wards, there was no water supply for three days before this incident and thereafter, the villages got muddy water and those who filtered or boiled it before drinking had no symptoms.

"We are investigating the cause for the supply of muddy water," Gadadh said.

Local residents blamed poor maintenance of the water tank for the contamination of water.

The water supply from the Kasinadi overhead tank has been suspended.

Villagers have demanded an investigation into the incident and immediate measures to address the issue, officials said.