TAJIKISTAN: Water quality in capital remains a source of concern

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DUSHANBE, 3 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Some residents of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, remain reluctant to use tap water, complaining that it is over chlorinated, while the authorities justify their efforts, saying it avoids the risk of possible water-borne diseases.

One resident complained to IRIN that the city's running water was heavily chlorinated. "The water smells strongly of chlorine as if bleaching powder is running from a tap."

Such a comment follows a recent decision by the authorities to stop the delivery of clean drinking water by truck. The city authorities reportedly said that the water supply system in the capital was now up and running again and water could be consumed after boiling.

However, Alimakhmad Sufiev, director of the centre on hygiene control of the city's water supply, conceded that based on bacteriological tests, the water coming from taps in most homes didn't comply with standards.

According to the centre, water tests confirmed the presence of viruses and water turbidity (mud content). Following floods and a landslide in the Varzob River, a major water source for Dushanbe, the water became heavily muddy.

"Now it is possible to find out up to 90 colon bacillus [intestinal viruses] in one litre of water," Sufiev said. "However, they are eliminated if you just boil the water."

Meanwhile, the United Nations is closely monitoring the situation on the ground. "There are still major problems in Dushanbe's drinking water system - indeed national experts estimate that it would cost more than US $100 million to restore the drinking water system [in the capital] - so people are still advised not to drink from the tap but to let the water stand and to boil it," Paul Handley, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) mission in Tajikistan, told IRIN, adding that chlorination remained one of the biggest challenges for the city's water supply company, Dushanbe Vodokanal.

According to a World Bank water project in the country, most of the city's water chlorination equipment is old and in disrepair, dating back to the Soviet Union. The challenge is ensuring the correct quantities of chlorine going into the system. And when there is more mud in the water more chlorine has to be added to ensure effective chlorination, experts explained.

Sufiev admitted that the dose of chlorine in running water exceeded the norm, but noted it was a safety measure to avoid an outburst of typhoid. "The [standard] dose of chlorine is exceeded a little bit and it is one milligram per one litre of water, while according to the norm it should be 0.5 milligram. It is a necessary measure during a [possible] pre-epidemiological period," he explained.

According to the government official, over 1,000 cases of typhoid were registered in the summer of 2003 in the country due to the consumption of contaminated water. In an effort to avoid that from reoccurring, water was now being chlorinated at the water-pump station coupled with chlorine pills being delivered to households.

Mukhamadvalisho Makhsholov, a spokesman for the Tajik Red Crescent Society, said volunteers from the organisation distributed 50 pills to each family in the city. For constant water chlorination and infection prevention, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) purchased chlorine and gave it to the sanitary and epidemiological centre of Dushanbe, William Patton, the United Nations Resident Representative in Tajikistan, said earlier.

[ENDS]