BACOLOD CITY — Twelve wells in Purok Luhod-luhod, Barangay Mandalagan in this city were temporarily closed for chlorination on Friday, November 11.
Dr. Grace Tan, head of the Environmental Sanitation Division of the City Health Office, said the chlorination was conducted to ensure that water is safe for residents after one well in Purok Luhod-luhod was found positive for the Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
The Office of the Mayor contracted the mobile water station of Prime Water to temporarily supply the needs of the residents of the purok.
Luhod-luhod residents are asking for a Bacolod City Water District-Prime Water connection to their area so they will have permanent access to clean water.
Cases of cholera in the city have increased to 21.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
People can get sick when they swallow food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe and life-threatening, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.
About one in 10 people with cholera will experience severe symptoms, which, in the early stages, include profuse watery diarrhea, sometimes described as “rice-water stools,” vomiting, thirst, leg cramps, restlessness, or irritability.
The target of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is for all level 1 and 2 wells in Bacolod City to be disinfected, Tan said.
“They will be temporarily closed down and chlorinated,” she said.
READ: 24 cholera cases logged in Negros Occidental