Srinagar: Several days after a bear carcass was found from a water tank in Muqam-i-Shahwali Drugmulla Kupwara, the water sample obtained for testing has reverted ‘highly unsatisfactory’ for human consumption, official sources said.
They told GNS that a water sample was lifted for testing by the department concerned on September 27, 2023. “Upon testing the sample has shown MPN (Most Probable Number) as 161/100 ml”, the official sources said adding that the MPN is the statistical estimate of the number of coliform-group organisms per unit volume of sample water.”
Explaining further, they said that an MPN count upto 1-3/100 ml is considered as satisfactory, the count as shown in the sample means that the water is highly unsatisfactory for human consumption.
“The official may sound a formal advisory any time by now to ask the local populace to refrain from using the water from the particular water source”, they further said.
When contacted, a Jal Shakti Department official told GNS that the bear had fallen into a defunct water scheme. “The people have not been using water from the particular water tank as it has been lying defunct”, the official said.
However many locals have claimed that they have been using water from the very source in which the carcass of the bear was found some days before.
It is pertinent to mention here that a bear carcass was found from a water tank in Muqam-i-Shahwali village in Drugmulla Kupwara a few days before. The authorities retrieved the carcass from the water tank and instantly as a cautionary measure had asked the local populace to avoid using the water from the source.
