Cuttack, Feb. 8: Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) officials face an extremely challenging task. They need to immediately repair the water pipeline leakages and restore the supply of safe drinking water in various jaundice-affected pockets of the city.

More than 55 persons have been affected with the water-borne disease following an outbreak in Jobra, Gahmandia and Thoria Sahi areas of Cuttack in the last three days.

The jaundice outbreak is mainly attributed to the contamination of drinking water with sewer water through leakages in pipelines.

Senior officials of the district administration said the help of the Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) would be sought immediately in ascertaining the type of virus that has led to the outbreak. It is imperative to know whether it is hepatitis A or E and then chart a future course of action.

Keeping in view of the alarming situation, the district administration is planning to rope in health workers and Puja committee members to tackle the ever-growing disease and intensify the cleaning as well as awareness drive.

Senior officials of the public health department have also intensified operation to replace the old pipelines that are passing through the drainage channels. They have already blocked water supply through the main pipelines at Jobra on Sunday.

As most of the pipelines pass through drainage channels, and most of them are located nearly three to four feet under the ground, it has become a Herculean task for corporation officials to locate the leakages.

The old pipelines that were passing through various drainage channels have been lifted at a safe height, while households have been urged to co-operate with the ongoing operation.

'We have formed special teams to locate the possible leakages through which water might have been contaminated. The process of replacing old pipelines in the affected pockets is being carried out on a war footing,' said Arun Nayak, an executive engineer with the public health department. Nayak said though the elaborate process of chlorination has begun, the purified water is not reaching the households owing to multiple leakage points on the pipelines.

Over six tankers have been installed at Jobra and other affected areas of Cuttack to provide safe drinking water since water supply through the main pipelines has been stalled due to the ongoing repair work.

Official sources said 101.29MLD (million litres per day) of potable water is being supplied through 170 production wells that have been installed at different parts of the city. The drinking water is supplied through a pipeline network of 582.24km.

'We will soon seek the assistance of Puja and Shanti committees to intensify the awareness drives while a review meeting of the situation is being held everyday,' said district collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.

The health squad of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has also launched a crackdown on roadside eateries and destroyed over 60kg of stale food in various affected areas today.