Residents across the Siliguri civic area are staring at a temporary but acute problem, with the civic body announcing on Wednesday that the water supplied is unfit for drinking.

Gautam Deb, mayor of the Trinamool-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), said on Wednesday that as the state irrigation department was carrying maintenance work at the Teesta canal, the civic body is drawing water from Mahananda river to its treatment plant in Fulbari. This water is high in BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and harmful for regular consumption, the mayor said.

"That is why we want to inform the people across the city that they should not drink this water. They can, however, use it for other purposes,” said the mayor.

He said that water samples had been sent to the laboratory of the state pollution control board.

“We hope by June 2, we will get the reports. Only after we get it, we would be able to say whether it is fit for drinking. On our end, necessary arrangements would be made to ensure that the water is properly treated so that people can drink it,” added Deb.

Experts said biochemical oxygen demand or BOD is a way to find how much the water is polluted with organic compounds. Regular consumption of water with high BOD can lead to waterborne diseases.

“Water with only zero BOD is suitable for drinking. Water with up to 3mg BOD per litre is permissible for other uses,” said a source.

To handle the situation, the civic body has decided to engage 26 water tankers to supply drinking water across 47 wards of the city and distribute one lakh water pouches through its five borough offices.

The situation has left the residents worried.

“While the demand is around 100 million liters per day (MLD), barely 50 MLD is supplied by the civic body. There was already a crisis. And now, the situation is worse. People can’t even drink whatever water they used to get at their households or from standposts,” said Subrata Dutta, a resident of Vivekanandapally.

The CPM staged a daylong sit-in at Hashmi Chowk, accusing the civic board of failing to provide the basics.

“The drinking water supply crisis proved the board’s incompetence once again,” said Saradindu Chakraborty, a CPM councillor.

Fire in SMC

A fire broke out at the SMC trade licence department on Wednesday afternoon. Around 3pm, some employees spotted the blaze caused by an electrical spark. Three fire tenders managed to douse the flames.