Peshawar gets water treatment system

Minister says freshwater resources getting polluted for lack of treatment plants

PESHAWAR:

Caretaker Minister for Local Government Election & Rural Development Department (LGE&RDD) Advocate Sawal Nazir inaugurated Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (Dewats), the first of its kind in the province.

Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) constructed the system with financial and technical assistance from UNICEF here at Wazirbagh park in Peshawar. Dewats will treat sewerage water of the surrounding locality that will be used for irrigation of the park.

General Manager Planning, Monitoring and Reporting (PMER) briefed the minister on the overall aspects, including cost, environmental impacts and benefits of the project for the community.

The minister called the project a step in the right direction that would help in conserving clean drinking water and avoiding water pollution. He added it would have a profound impact on the health and well-being of the community.

He said a clean environment and access to potable water were very important for human health, lamenting that lack of wastewater treatment plants in cities was polluting freshwater resources. “The government and its relevant departments are aware of the problem and several projects are underway to find a lasting solution to save freshwater resources,” he said.

He thanked UNICEF for its financial assistance in different areas and said continuous assistance shows organisation’s trust and confidence on the provincial government and its departments. He said the project was completed before the deadline and hoped the organization would continue funding low-cost projects with immense health and environmental impacts for the society.

Secretary LG Islam also thanked UNICEF for funding such projects in the province that suffered massive losses during militancy.

WSSP’s chief executive officer shed light on importance of the project and said WSSP was not only striving to supply clean drinking water but taking steps to conserve groundwater resources and prevent them from contamination.

“The project is energy-efficient and environment-friendly that has been completed in collaboration with locals to inculcate a sense of ownership among them,” Dr Nasir said. He also shared details of other projects completed recently for improvement in water supply system including installation of water testing devices and SCADA system on 46 tube-wells.

Speaking on the occasion, UNICEF’s Abdullahi said Dewats was not a big project but very significant for the city. He said completion of the project was a step towards bigger project in treating wastewater and hoped that a time was not far when the city would have so many systems.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2023.