Indian Lake Drained After HIV-Positive Woman Drowns In It

Residents of the southern Indian village of Morab were successful in demanding a sprawling lake be drained of its water after the body of a young HIV-positive woman was found floating in it last week.

Authorities pumped water out of the 32-acre lake after villagers threatened to drain the lake themselves.

"We tried our best to assure the villagers that we would get the water tested, but they did not budge and even refused to come near the lake," local bureaucrat Vaneen Hullur told Reuters.

The lake is indeed used for drinking water for the drought-ravaged village of 1,000 residents, but HIV cannot be transmitted via water and cannot survive in the body after an infected person dies.

The drainage effort will take days to complete at an undisclosed cost. Water from a nearby canal will be used to replenish the lake.