Birtamod, July 23 -- Most residents of Durgapur in Kankai Municipality, Jhapa, avoid wearing white clothes for fear of ruining the colour and fabric of their clothes. There is hardly a family in the settlement who is currently not on medication for skin-related diseases brought about by the presence of iron in the water they source from tubewells.

Around 1,200 households of Kankai Municipality-1 and 2 have been compelled to use groundwater with iron content for their daily water needs.

Khagendra Niraula, a native of Kankai, said that the villagers have installed 25 to 35 feet deep tubewells in the municipality to meet their water needs; however, the wells were installed without the conducting of tests for iron presence.

Villagers use t...