Precious Resource: Rural water supply issues highlighted

ISLAMABAD: The vast majority of Pakistan’s 180 million inhabitants have no access to safe drinking water, according to a report of Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR). The report says the best rural water supply amongst the provinces is in Punjab where only 7% of the rural population depends on a dug well or a river, canal or stream. In Sindh, some 24% of the rural population depends on these sources.  The rural water supply situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan is worst as about 46% and 72% respectively of the rural population depend on substandard water.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2012.