Lab test results: Nearly 75% drinking water sources unsafe in country

Highest percentage of contamination found in the water from Sindh and K-P.

ISLAMABAD: Almost 75% of the drinking water sources in all the four provinces of the country are contaminated and unsafe for human use, laboratory tests carried out by Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) have shown.

The research body’s water quality monitoring was initiated in 24 major cities across the four provinces. The objective of the programme was to indentify the gaps and disseminate findings to the implementing agencies with recommendations for water quality improvement in the country.

The analytical data revealed that out of 360 total sources, only 90 sources (25%) have been found safe whereas 270 sources (75%) were found contaminated and unsafe for human consumption. The analysis of the water samples showed excessive levels of bacteriological contamination, hardness, arsenic, iron and total dissolved solids (TDS).



Some appalling statistics came out of Sindh where 96% of the water samples were found unsafe. Out of the four cities, samples in Badin were found safe. But not a single sample in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur was safe or fit for human consumption. In Punjab, 63% samples were unsafe, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) 90% and in Balochistan 85% water samples found unsafe for drinking purposes.

The research council selected 163 samples in 12 cities across Punjab for water analysis and out of that only 60 samples were found safe while 103 were found unsafe. These cities include Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Kasur, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Sheikhupura and Sialkot.

In Sindh, four cities were selected including Hyderabad, Karachi, Sukkur and Badin and 85 water samples were tested from different sources and only three samples were found safe and 82 samples or 96% were found unsafe for human use.

In K-P, the PCRWR had selected four cities – Abbottabad, Mingora, Mardan and Peshawar – and found that out of a total of 40 only four samples were found safe while the remaining 36 were found unsafe.

In Balochisan, four cities – Khuzdar, Loralai, Quetta and Ziarat – were selected for water testing and 47 sources were tested. Only seven samples were found safe for drinking while 40 samples or 85% of the were found contaminated.

Talking to The Express Tribune Dr Lubna Naheed Bokhari, spokesperson for PCRWR, said the analysis and laboratory tests of water sources proved that drinking water in most of the cities is unsafe for human consumption.  “Our analyses have found different kind of contaminations in the drinking water and without treatment its usage is unsafe for health,” she stated.

Environmentalist Asif Shuja Khan said a majority of population is forced to use raw water. “It is necessary that every water source should be given to the citizen after complete treatment process,” he said.

There should be master plans for every city for water treatment and its safe supply to every locality, he added.

He pointed out that in Pakistan waterborne diseases account for almost 40% of the diseases that people suffer. This can be overcome by providing safe drinking water to the citizens.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2015.