Unsafe water being supplied to Hyd: SEPA
The public perception about Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HWSC) supplied drinking water has for long been critical but now the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has joined the chorus of reproof. Director General SEPA Naeem Ahmed Mughal, in a letter sent to the corporation's Managing Director Zahid Khemtio on Monday, revealed that 'unsafe drinking water' is being supplied to the citizens of Hyderabad.
According to him, the agency collected samples of filtered water from Jamshoro, Hala Naka, Hussainabad, Latifabad, Pareetabad and Ghangra Mori filtration plants. The water analysis of those samples later showed concentration of different parameters in excess of Sindh Environmental Quality Standards (SEQS) as notified by the provincial government for safe drinking water. "The parameters were also in excess of the World Health Organization's guidelines for safe drinking water," the DG mentioned.
Earlier, Deputy Director technical and in charge Hyderabad Region, Imran Ali Abbasi, conveyed to the DG that teams of SEPA Hyderabad have been visiting the filtration plants on a regular basis to collect the samples. He informed that they have time and again advised the officials of HW&SBC to carry out proper chlorination and other filtration processes before supplying water to the citizens.
"The monitoring teams of this agency visited the plants and found that no proper chlorination and other treatment methods are being adopted."
He also recalled that during the DG's visit to Hyderabad on July 27, Mughal had taken up the issue of dumping wastewater in Wadhu Wah, which is a fresh water channel passing through Qasimabad. However, no measures have been taken to stop the ongoing pollution.
According to SEPA, the combined installed capacity of the filtration plants in Hyderabad is 82 million gallons (MGD) per day for an estimated population of around 2.5 million people. This includes 50 MGD Jamshoro plant; 8 MGD Pareetabad; 8 MGD Hala Naka; 6 MGD Hussainabad; 5 MGD Latifabad; and 5 MGD Ghangra Mori filtration plants.
The SEPA officials disclosed that absence of dosing of chlorination and alum was observed in five of these plants. The plant in Latifabad has been supplying raw water without any treatment.
The Deputy Director stated that their teams were told by the officials at the filtration plants that due to financial constraints of their organisation, the process of chlorination is not being carried out in all those plants.
"It was observed that Latifabad, Hala Naka and Ghangra Mori filter plants are supplying raw water but Jamshoro, Hussainabad and Pareeabad plants are using hypo chloride for the partial chemical treatment," Abbassi stated. He also pointed out that no fire fighting system existed at the plants.
The MD of HWSBC, formerly Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), acknowledged while talking to The Express Tribune that the identified issues do exist. He said that the Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Hyder Shah is scheduled to visit Hyderabad in the coming days and installing chlorination system at the plants is on agenda.
The water experts have for long suggested en route chlorination at several intervals till the tail end of the supply lines. The MD himself admitted that even if their filtration plants provided properly filtered water, contaminations still exists due to scores of ruptures and leakages in the pipelines. He told that they have, nevertheless, planned to install five or six intermediate chlorination systems.
Khemtio contended that policy level decisions are required to address issues confronted by the corporation and this includes appointment of qualified people on merit, specially graduate engineers, to run the system.
Additionally, he said, the corporation also needed to scale up its tax recovery to meet expenses of running a functional water supply and drainage system.