Health Affairs has said that 70 percent of drinking water in storage tanks in the Jeddah region has been polluted due to last week’s floods, and warned the public to only drink bottled water.
Sami Badawood, head of Health Affairs in Jeddah, said that analyses had shown that that 70 percent of the water tested was “unfit for human consumption and contaminated” after becoming polluted with rain and flood waters.
He said the problem was particularly acute in the areas most badly affected by last week’s rains.
“Reports concerning the issue have been sent to the mayoralty so that water can be removed and tanks sterilized,” Badawood said. “We advise the public to drink only from bottled water at the current time.”
The National Water Company, he said, had been asked to raise the level of chlorine in water from 0.2 to 0.5 percent.
“We have also sent out instructions for awareness measures to be stepped up and warnings to be issued to the public.”
Badawood added, however, that there were no indications of any spread of illness commonly associated with polluted water sources, and that medical teams continued to work 24 hours a day in flood-hit areas to help the local population with both mental and physical medical needs.” They’ve examined 13,634 people so far, over 2,500 of whom have been provided with treatment, with 151 requiring further attention at hospital,” he said.
MUHAMMAD AL-DAQA’I
Saudi Gazette