Clean drinking water: A persistent challenge for KP govt

PESHAWAR, Nov 24 (APP): At a time when the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government was busy in sheer politicking, millions of its residents were clamoring for clean drinking water – a challenge haunting the PTI’s provincial government.
Thousands among them were already suffering from water borne diseases and millions others either lacking this facility or have to travel miles for fetching few liters of portable water.
Poor Malyar Khan, a 28-year-old resident of Mohib Banda village in Pabbi tehsil is one among them who are used to bring two gallon of clean drinking water daily from a 10 kilometer away tehsil municipal filtration plant as groundwater in his hometown had become unhealthy for dinking.
“It is tiresome for me to travel that much, after a daylong labor work, to bring water,” Malyar said. “Groundwater of my village got contaminated after 2022 flood, leaving me with no other option than to fetch water daily from TMA filtration plant.”
“There are thousands others in different localities bearing this pang like me,” he said and demanded from the provincial government and elected representatives to resolve this problem urgently.
Like Malyar, majority of residents of Mohib Banda, Amankot, Dheri Mian Ishaq, Bela, Bara Banda, Korvi and adjoining villages were also seen bringing drinking water on bikes, rickshaws, bicycles and vehicles from tehsil Pabbi, Nowshera and Peshawar.
Taxi driver Nasir Khan, a resident of Hayatabad Peshawar also undergoes the same hassle as sometimes he has to purchase water from companies to meet daily needs. “Water table in Hayatabad had gone down over the years due to its imprudent use by domestic and commercial consumers.”
He complained that despite Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s third term in power consecutively, the provincial government could not improve the situation. “Rather it was worsening with every passing day especially for in Hayatabad and Khyber.”
As thousands of people have to compromise their health by using contaminated water, Dr Tahir Ali Khan, Principal Sardar Begum Dental College, Peshawar says that drinking contaminated water exposes residents to diseases like intestinal infection, diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and even cancer.
“Around 40 per cent of annual deaths in KP including erstwhile FATA are caused by unhealthy water,” he claimed. “Besides other ailment, many patients in Mardan and Khyber also suffer from teeth diseases due to presence of toxin fluorine in water, not knowing about dangerous effects of fluoride contamination.
Besides contamination, another expert Dr Jahangir Shah, Director General, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) has also warned of rapidly depleting water resource in many KPK districts.
He mentioned to bacteria contamination in water in different areas including merged tribal districts and said, leakage from lines due to rusted water pipes especially in interior Peshawar was a major reason of contamination.
“Water distribution system in Peshawar is worn and clean water supplied from tube-wells mixes with sewage due to ruptured pipes in Gunj, Kohati, Kakshal and some other areas of interior Peshawar,” he claimed.
He said most of people do not clean storage tanks on time exposing themselves to serious health hazards as he also feared water scarcity due to rapid depletion of water resource. “We need to promote water conservation practices, to avoid impending water shortage, tentatively during next 10 to 12 years.”
Although the situation prevails over decades, the provincial government is yet to adopt a holistic approach to address this issue at grassroots.
Hassan Khan, an official of Water and Sanitation Services Program (WSSP) Peshawar said, his organization and Initiative for Empowerment Axis (IDEA) have recently signed an agreement to provide clean drinking water to Peshawarties.
He said the Federal Government and International Cooperation Agency have upgraded over 45 water testing laboratories in Pakistan including KPK under a US$ 4.5 million project installing latest equipment at laboratories for swift water quality testing. “These mobile laboratories travel to remote areas of KP for water testing as this project would benefit over 60 million people across Pakistan.”
As challenges of water scarcity and clean drinking water coincide, Provincial Minister for Public Health Engineering, Pakhtoon Yar mentioned to construction of Jabba dam as part of Peshawar Greater Water Supply Scheme to provide clean drinking water to residents of Peshawar, Hayatabad and Khyber districts.
He said feasibility study of Jabba dam, having 38,000 gallons water storage capacity, has been completed and its construction would help provide clean water to over one million people.
Bara dam, another project in pipeline, he said, would also provide sufficient potable water to Bara Bazaar and eight million cusecs to Hayatabad.
“Bara dam is very important for Peshawar with its estimated life span of 80 to 100 years and its storage capacity of 88,000 acre feet water,” Pakhtoon Yar said.
Likewise, he said, under Swat Greater Water Supply Scheme, water from River Swat would be treated and supplied to residents of Mingora City. “Streams and springs’ water would also be channeled to a treatment plant near Choona in Abbottabad.”
Amidst all these efforts, the experts hoped that the provincial government would accelerate efforts to address clean drinking water issue to ensure a healthy society and saving billions of rupees being spent each year to treat water borne diseases.