It is unfortunate that despite being aware, authorities concerned have done little or nothing to improve situation
KARACHI: As if we didn’t have enough problems already related to water shortage in the country, a new issue has emerged. According to a recent study, around 50 million people are at risk of arsenic poisoning from contaminated groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Valley. The risk is far more than previously thought. This means the little water we get that also in some areas may have the risk of being poisonous.
The news story mentioning the study in Time magazine also states that the country is aware of the problem ‘as owing to a lack of water supply through proper means people increasingly and indiscriminately draw from the country’s underground aquifers’. However, if that is to be believed it is quite unfortunate that despite being aware the authorities concerned have done little or nothing to improve the situation; leaving millions in the country at the risk of losing their lives.
Immediate measures need to be taken to counter the spread and increase of arsenic poisoning through contaminated groundwater.
Minha Saif
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2017.
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