(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- For more than 15 days, residents in Srinagar's uptown areas have been receiving dirty, untreated water, allegedly because the Doodhganga Water Supply Plant in Lalpora ran out of essential purification chemicals.

The affected localities include Hyderpora, Barzulla, Baghat, Humhama, Rawalpora, Gogjibagh, and several adjoining areas. Residents say the water has been arriving at their homes muddy, foul-smelling, and unsafe to drink, forcing many to either buy bottled water or risk consuming it.

Following repeated public complaints, staff at the facility confirmed that a shortage of alum - the key chemical used in sedimentation and filtration - had persisted for over two weeks.

Plant workers reportedly sent multiple letters to senior officers, warning of the crisis, but claimed no action was taken in time. Officials in the Procurement Division insisted the chemical was available, suggesting that mismanagement at the water works level was to blame.

Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Quality Control Procurement,Sub Division, Mohammad Umar denied there was a shortage of alum, claiming that the chemical had been supplied, and suggested that plant staff should have collected it.

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Chief Engineer of the Jal Shakti Department, Mohammad Taj Chaudhary, acknowledged there had been a supply delay caused by funding and coordination issues.“The problem has now been addressed and fresh alum stocks have reached the plant,” he said.

However, he did not clarify why untreated water was supplied in the interim or whether accountability would be fixed.

Public health experts say prolonged consumption of untreated water can cause outbreaks of waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea, typhoid, hepatitis, and gastroenteritis.“If people have been drinking raw water for two weeks, we may see a spike in hospital cases very soon,” one senior doctor at SMHS Hospital warned.

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