Admitting that the turbidity level in the drinking water, supplied by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), had shot up, civic water department chief Vivek Kharvadkar, however, said that the water was potable and safe. "We can understand that the citizens will doubt the quality of water owing to its colour. This is because normally the turbidity level is less than 1 PPM, but now it is 10 PPM. However, a 10 PPM level is safe," Kharvadkar said. He said the incessant rains in the catchment area of the Khadakwasla dam in the last one week, had resulted in a sharp increase (80 PPM) in the turbidity level of the dam water. "We have brought down the level to 10 PPM after treating it at the Parvati and Cantonment water works," he said.

Kharvadkar has appealed to the citizens to store the drinking water for some time so that the murky contents settle down before using it. He, however, admitted that the areas along the Sinhagad road were receiving water with high turbidity as the areas do not get supply from the Parvati water works (PWW). They draw the untreated water from the closed water pipeline, linking Khadakwasla dam and the PWW.

Incidentally, in a joint announcement, mayor Dipti Chaudhari and municipal commissioner Nitin Kareer on Saturday said that, beginning August 9, the PMC will undertake a fortnightlong campaign to check the quality of water supplied by the PMC. Civic employees, attached to the 14 divisional ward offices, will collect samples from municipal water connections to check the chlorine content. It is for the first time that the PMC has launched such a campaign, Kharvadkar said, clarifying that it was not being done due to the rise in turbidity levels.