Drinking water: ‘Dysfunctional filtration plants to be repaired’

Over two dozen plants in Gilgit out of order.

GILGIT:

The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government plans to repair all dysfunctional water filtration plants in Gilgit.

“We are assessing the number of water plants which are non-functional so that they can be repaired,” said Gilgit-Baltistan Minister for Water and Power Muhammad Naseer Khan on Wednesday.

He added that his department had been directed to ensure necessary repair of the plants for their utilisation by the public. “The filtration plants established in Gilgit, Amphey, Jutial and Baseen will be repaired under the project,” he added.

Former president Pervez Musharraf had launched several water filtration schemes across the country to ensure the provision of clean drinking water to the people. Under the schemes, a number of filtration plants were set up in G-B. However, due to non-technical staff and lack of professional commitment, these plants went out of order, according to official sources.

“There are over two dozen filtration plants in Gilgit alone, which are either out of order or their water is unfit for consumption,” an official in the G-B Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told The Express Tribune.

The two water reservoirs in Jutial and Barmas, from where water is supplied to the entire area, are extremely unclean, said residents of the area.

According to a report prepared by the G-B EPA, the water taken from most of the filtration plants in Gilgit is unsafe for drinking. The report also points out that the staffs deputed at the plants are not trained to handle the equipment properly.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2011.