03-19-06,10:25am
LAHORE, 15 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - A new report, based on a sample survey conducted during the summer of 2005 by the federal Ministry of Science and Technology, has found 75 percent of water extracted in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore was contaminated.
Samples collected from schools in 18 locations in the city were declared unfit for human consumption. The biggest cause of pollution was the seepage of sewage from decaying waste pipes into the water supply system.
The recently released findings fit with earlier studies on water safety in and around the city. Another survey, conducted a few weeks ago by the Punjab government's epidemiology laboratory at the Institute of Public Health, also found around 80 percent of water supplied to the city was contaminated. This has led the local Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) to order its own survey to determine the precise situation.
When Zubaida, 34, turns on her kitchen tap, she generally receives a stream of brownish water, laden with particles that show up in any container. Unable to afford bottled mineral water, or a filtration system in her house, the lower middle class family, living in Samanabad, boils the water and then consumes it – though Zubaida worries constantly about her children getting sick. 'The baby, who is a year old, has diarrhoea again. I am sure it is the water, but we are helpless, what can we do?' she asked.
From the perspective of consumers, the situation is grim. Over the past few years, outbreaks of disease linked to contaminated water have been reported from in and around Lahore, with a major outbreak of diarrhoeal disease hitting the city in 2005. It claimed at least 14 lives, most of them children.
Across the country, during a six-week period from May to July 2005, at least 100 people died as a result of drinking contaminated water, according to figures compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
The latest evidence makes it clear the situation is not improving, and authorities have failed to take measures to provide the 10 million people of Lahore with safe water. 'The situation is terrible. Safe water is one of the most fundamental rights of people, yet each year more and more persons are deprived of it,' HRCP Director I A Rehman told IRIN.
According to figures put out by international agencies, including the UN and the World Bank, contaminated water is the major cause of death in Pakistan. Around 35 percent of all reported deaths are attributed to the consumption of unsafe water, while contaminated water is a major factor in the country's high infant mortality rate. A large proportion of limited public-health funds are spent on treating people with water-related illnesses, observers say.
Local industry is also playing a major role in contributing to the toxicity of water in the city. The Lahore city authorities have found that 142 illegal industrial units, based along the Multan Road, are belching effluents into drainage channels and open ground. This in turn enters the reserves of underground water – the main source of drinking water in the city.
'The fact that so many fall victim to hepatitis, typhoid or other water-borne diseases each year, despite vaccination campaigns and a widespread effort to create awareness about prevention, shows how widespread the risk is,' said Dr Tariq Mahmood, a family health practitioner in the city.
Consumers claim that despite using filters, the water remains unsafe.
'I established a fairly expensive filtration system at my house. But my children kept falling ill, and when I had the water tested, it was discovered some bacterial elements were still slipping through the system,' Asif Ahmed, a resident of the Allama Iqbal Town area, told IRIN.
The matter is one of growing concern to consumers, but so far few solutions seem to be in sight – even as another summer season approaches, bringing with it the threat of sickness and ill health from the city’s taps.
