People at high risk of infectious

diseases due to contaminated water

APP
February 27, 2014
Daily Times




ISLAMABAD: People in the country are at high risk of gastroenteritis, cholera,
diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and E, typhoid, acute respiratory infection
(ARI) as well as Blue Baby Syndrome, as safe drinking water is available to only
15% people in urban and 18% in rural areas.
The quality of drinking water supply is poor, with bacterial contamination,
arsenic, fluoride and nitrate being the factors of major concern. The vast
majority of the population does not have access to safe drinking water, due to
which incidence of waterborne diseases is increasing rapidly.
High population growth rate, urbanisation, industrialisation and new
environmental constraints are aggravating the problem.
It has been estimated that water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases cost
Pakistans economy about Rs.112 billion per year, in terms of health costs and
lost earning.
While the filtration plants installed in the federal capital are supplying highly
unsafe water contaminated mainly with microbial contamination.
Situation is even worse for the rural areas of the country where 88 percent of
the population lacks access to safe drinking water.
Talking to APP, Director Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources
(PCRWR) Lubna Naheed said the groundwater samples collected by PCRWR has
revealed that only 10%-15% samples were found safe for drinking both in
urban and rural areas of the country. Around 79% of sources of functional water
Supply Schemes (WSS) in Punjab are unsafe for drinking, she added.
Around 40% of these schemes are unsafe due to microbiological contamination
while about 23% contain major pollutants like Total Dissolved Solids (TDS),
Chloride, Sodium, Iron, Arsenic, Fluoride which could cause diseases like
Diarrhoea and Dysentery.
Director said that 59% of water samples collected from rural areas in Islamabad
were found unsafe for drinking, adding situation is even worse in Rawalpindi,
with 83 percent of the samples collected from villages across Rawalpindi district
are unsafe.
Commenting on poor water quality, ex-chairman PCRWR Muhammad Aslam
Tahir said, Such high levels of water contamination are a result of insanitary
and unhygienic practices in the rural areas, particularly due to lack of
education.
Besides, Minister for Science and Technology, Zahid Hamid has also emphasised
that water quality testing and treatment technologies must be commercialised
with public-private partnership to benefit the common man.
Talking to APP, Chairperson Pakistan Council of Science and Technology (PCST)
Dr Mudasar Israr said appropriate legislation is required to ensure compliance
with the Pakistan Standards for drinking water by individuals and institutions.
She said serious research efforts to develop and test simple technologies for
sustainable availability of safe drinking water are required on an urgent basis.
Dr Mudasar told that the project for establishing water treatment plants in all
union councils is still under implementation and needs to be expedited on a fast
track basis. Development of inexpensive desalination techniques for converting
the brackish groundwater into safe drinking water needs to be pursued
urgently, she said.
When contacted, Member Science Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial
Research (PCSIR), Dr SS Tahir said 45 percent of filtration plants in the federal
capital are providing contaminated water, which is used by 75 percent of the
citizens.