Faecal coliform bacteria have been found in the sources of drinking water in Baglung every year.

Baglung Provincial Public Health Office has found coliform bacteria in 125 sources while testing water samples collected from 341 sources in all ten municipalities of the district.

The highest presence of coliform was detected in drinking water sources of Jaymini Municipality.

According to Dilli Acharya, a lab technician at the Provincial Public Health Office, coliform was found in samples of 42 out of 106 sources of drinking water tested in this municipality.

He also mentioned that 40 sources of water were found contaminated with coliform bacteria among 91 places tested in Galkot Municipality.

In Baglung Municipality, samples of four out of 24 sources tested were found with coliform, while in Kathekhola Rural Municipality, out of the 47 sources tested, the faecal coliform was detected in 27 sources.

As informed, coliform was found in 10 sources out of 68 tested in Badigaad Rural Municipality.

None of the five sources tested with coliform in Dhorpatan Municipality, he informed.

Acharya noted that sources have not been tested in Nisikhola, Tamankhola, Tarakhola, and Bareng Rural Municipality.

Last year too, coliform was found in 103 sources, which has increased to 125 this year.

"We will expand the scope of testing in all municipalities as coliform has been found in many sources”, Acharya said.

Dr. Kiran Tiwari, Medical Superintendent of Dhaulagiri Provincial Hospital, stated that drinking water contaminated with coliform can cause diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, jaundice, hepatitis B, urinary infections, and blood infections.

Dr. Tiwari recommends the consumption of the water from coliform-affected sources only after boiling.

Harihar Sharma, the deputy mayor of Jamini Municipality, which has shown the highest level of coliform, mentioned that the municipality is engaged in the cleaning and conservation of the sources. (RSS)