Kottayam: Raising serious concerns about health and hygiene, it has been noticed that the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) is currently supplying water from a polluted river to the Kottayam Medical College Hospital and houses in the vicinity.

Even though the water drawn from the river is purified at the KWA’s purification plant on the Medical College campus, there are widespread complaints that it is insufficient to remove the impurities. Residents in the area point out that there are chances for the spread of epidemics through the water which is pumped from the KWA’s pump house near the Kudamaloor Bridge on the Meenachil River to the Medical College purification plant. Water from Poovathummoodu is also pumped to the KWA’s plant at Medical College.

The KWA’s Medical College purification plant supplies water to the Medical College and related institutions, the panchayats of Arpookkara, Aymanam, Athirampuzha and Neendoor, Ettumanoor Municipality and parts of Kottayam Municipality.

The section of the Meenachil River near Kudamaloor Bridge from where the water is collected is now choked with water hyacinth and other weeds. Antisocial elements dump poultry and waste below the weeds, making the situation worse. With summer intensifying, the flow of water in the river has ceased, leading to the decay of the hyacinth and waste items in the stagnant water.

This stretch of the Meenachil River, referred to as Kudamaloor Aaru’, serves as the boundary between the Aymanan and Arpookkara panchayats. The KWA’s pump house is located on the border of Aymanam panchayat.

The Minor Irrigation Department and the panchayat are responsible for removing the hyacinth, but both remain inactive in this regard. Additionally, there is a possibility of intrusion of saline water into the river as the Thanneermukkom Bund was opened recently. “Before the shutters of the bund are lifted every time, there is a procedure to block the flow of saline water. This precaution was not taken this time,” informed a KWA official.

Meanwhile, residents of the area demanded emergency measures to clean the area of the river from where the water is drawn.