The water we drink

By Inayatullah

How good is the water we drink? Or how bad? Is it really potable? What does bad water do to the people of Pakistan? And what is the government doing about it. If it has not been doing much, isn't this neglect culpable?These questions, of late, have arisen in Pakistan because of shocking news about people dying of contaminated water in different places in Pakistan - in Hyderabad, in Karachi, in Multan, in Lahore, in Peshawar and even in Rawalpindi. In Karachi thousands of people were reported hospitalised and more than dozen breathed their last because of the water they have been drinking. Earlier there were dozens of casualties in Hyderabad. 15 people lost their lives in areas near the Bund Road in Lahore. A probing social activist found that water pipes in the area had fractured at many places as they ran alongside the sewerage drains. In February this year, the story of poisonous water being supplied in a number of Multan schools was highlighted. A large number of students had complained of skin allergy and irritation. Tests showed arsenic in the water at 100 PPB while the WHO has fixed 50 PPB arsenic resistance ceiling for the developing countries. WASA conducted a survey in the adjoining residential areas which confirmed 295 arsenic related deaths in the year 2001. A year earlier Kalanwala a village, near Lahore had hit the headlines where more than a hundred boys and girls had developed bone deformities because of the water they consumed which was contaminated with the waste discharged by the factories in the area. Reports have also appeared in the Peshawar press about people suffering from hepatitis and other stomach diseases because of the poor quality of the drinking water.Not that government has remained unresponsive after the occurrence of the tragic cases cited above. Some remedial steps were taken on an ad hoc basis at the local level. But there was no serious effort to formulate comprehensive plans to ensure that no such sad incidents happened again. Of late, both the Prime Minister and the President have been speaking about a country-wide programme for the supply of clean water. Projects to set up a large number of filtration plants have been approved. Billions of rupees are said to have been earmarked for the purpose. The promise is that all the people in Pakistan shall have access to potable drinking water by the year 2007 (the year of the next elections-no emphasis added). Will the promise be fulfilled or will it remain a pipe dream?For the answer, let us look at the magnitude of the problem and enormity of the complexity of it. Can the setting up of a few hundred filtration plants achieve the desired results?According to Senator Nisar Memon 75 million people in the country do not have access to potable water. Quoting a UNICEF report he told the Senate that more than 40% of the patients in the country hospitals are affected by water borne diseases. According to WHO 19 % of all deaths in Pakistan are directly due to water borne diseases and this also accounts for 60% of the infant mortality. Leave aside the rest of the country, under the very nose of the government of Pakistan, the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources have found that 70% of water in Islamabad and 94% of it in Rawalpindi is bacterially contaminated.Experts have observed that factors such as interrupted water supply and poor distribution system result in the sucking in of impurities from surroundings and this causes such diseases as diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, typhoid and hepatitis. A study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency Punjab in the quality of sub soil water in 14 districts of the province has revealed that most of the samples taken even in Lahore were found unfit for human consumption. Thus it is not merely a question of providing funds for installing a certain number of filtration plants. Much more needs to be done as a part of an integrated plan. There is the problem of old pipes leakages with water mixing with sewerage seepage. Tube wells, cisterns and bores are bringing in ground waters contaminated by industrial waste, polluted streams and tributaries.One of the most useful studies on the question of quality, potability and availability of water in the city of Lahore was done by a committee consisting of experts from all concerned governmental and non governmental agencies in the year 2001 at the instance of the Civic Forum.Out of the 10 samples taken from different parts of the city as many as 6 were found not portable. These tests were carried out by PCSIR - the Pakistan Council for Scientific Research (Interestingly the WASA and Corporation laboratories had certified samples as fit for human consumption!).The committee cited the following 7 causes of contamination and impurities in the water supplied to the citizens.1. Whenever there is negative pressure in the supply lines, the possibility of sewage waste water mixing with drinking water cannot be ruled out.2. Loose joints in water pipelines, particularly in cases of illegal water connections.3. Industrial effluents at various levels of water supply.4. Untreated liquid waste disposal.5. Imbalance in the chemical composition of water caused by over-chlorination.6. Intrusion of saline water from peripheral areas (including Hudiarah drain area).7. Rusting and leakage of old and worn out water pipes installed by the water consumers.The committee also made a number of suggestions to ensure safe drinking water to the citizens as under:1. WASA must make necessary efforts to maintain adequate positive pressure in the water supply lines round the clock to prevent the inaction of pollutants like sewage water, industrial effluents, storm water etc. into this supply.2. Poor and loose joints of water supply lines which lead to the induction of pollutants, must be immediately repaired and monitored. A leakage points survey should be carried out every month and repairs done without delay. WASA should disconnect all illegal water connections.3. A regular system of monitoring the quality of water should be established at all the possible points of contamination i.e. the source as well as the distribution system. The private tubewells normally located at shallow depth should also be monitored regularly regarding the quality of their water.4. Consumers should be educated to maintain their internal water supply system properly. 5. The desired results cannot be obtained without creating public awareness on water management and conservation. The consumers should be educated about the importance of the water quality for human use as well as the health hazards of using polluted water.The committee further examined the question of sustained availability of potable water and made 5 concrete recommendations. The report of the committee has been gathering dust in the offices of the concerned departments for the many years.Mentioning may here be made of the complacent well-off citizenry who can afford to buy mineral water. They too may soon enough discover that even the bottled water is not safe as found in a number of cases. So many mineral water companies have sprung up with hardly any monitoring on the part of the authorities.It is time a commission appointed to examine in depth the multi-faceted questions of availability and quality of drinking water in the urban and rural areas of Pakistan. The commission should consist of experts from the relevant government, non-government agencies and media, as also eminent citizens. It should look into the findings of reports already prepared including the ones by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources and the Civic Forum committee.To atone for the years of neglect, resulting in poor health of the citizens and the misery they undergo because of the often fatal waterborne diseases directly affecting the quality of human resource in this benighted country, government must move fast and in right earnest to provide safe potable drinking water to the people of Pakistan. Rhetoric and rosy promises do not make for the urgently desired results. Nor will partial and ad hoc measures yield the benefits the teeming millions hope for.Bad water means bad governance. Is it too much to ask for good governance and good water?

The Nation