Unsafe for drinking: Water in twin cities’ rural areas contaminated

PCRWR finds 83% samples from Rawalpindi, 59% from Islamabad unfit for consumption.

ISLAMABAD:

Fifty-nine per cent of water samples collected from rural areas in Islamabad were found to be unsafe for drinking. The situation is even worse in Rawalpindi, with 83 per cent of the samples collected from villages across Rawalpindi district unsafe.

According to a report issued by Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) here on Wednesday, 150 water samples were collected and analysed from 20 per cent villages of all union councils of Islamabad. Of these, 40 per cent samples were contaminated with total coliforms (bacteria), 33 per cent with nitrate and 11 per cent had higher level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). These figures far exceed Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority guidelines.

To analyse the water quality in Rawalpindi district, 1,125 water samples from 20 per cent of the villages of all union councils were collected and analysed. Of these 73 per cent water samples were contaminated with total coliforms, 29 per cent with nitrate and 15 per cent had TDS. Safe drinking water was only being supplied in 17 per cent of the rural areas of Rawalpindi district.

The report suggested that such high levels of water contamination are a result of insanitary and unhygienic practices in the rural areas, particularly due to lack of education.

PCRWR officials said that 90 per cent of the population in rural areas of the country lacks access to safe drinking water.

With decrease of quantity, the quality of water is also severely deteriorating due to municipal, industrial and agriculture wastes. About 67 per cent of Pakistanis live in rural areas.

PCRWR initiated a project to monitor water quality in rural areas of the country and install water conditioning and filtration units in rural areas of 24 major districts some years back. The main objective of the project is to identify and quantify the water quality problems in rural areas.

The report highlighted that the global water shortage of affordable and safe drinking water is manifested in Pakistan with an estimated 44 per cent of the population without access to safe drinking water.

About 200,000 children in Pakistan die every year of diarrheal diseases alone, the report said. Pakistan was a water rich country a few decades ago, however, a recent report by World Bank stated that Pakistan is now among the 17 countries that are currently facing water shortage, the report added.







Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2011.