Lahore: Civic issues
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Lahore: water quality
Half of water Samples have faecal contents: Survey of Lahore
By Zulqernain Tahir
LAHORE, May 25: It is shocking but true that about half of the city’s population has been drinking water having faecal contents, and even those living in the so-called posh areas are not exempted.
According to the Institute of Public Health, waste discharged from bowels (faeces) has been found in about half of the drinking water samples collected from almost all parts of Lahore.
The samples tested by the institute were sent to it by different agencies including the city district government during the first two weeks of the month.
IPH’s Epidemiologist Prof Farkhanda Kokab told Dawn that the institute had tested some 92 drinking water samples between May 1 and 15 and found faeces in 43 of them. “The presence of faeces in potable water is very dangerous and alarming. The authorities concerned must take a serious note of it and do the needful,” she said and further maintained that posh areas were no exception in this case. “The best solution to ensure the cleanliness of drinking water is to boil it,” she suggested.
Punjab Environment Protection Department Director (Monitoring) Dr Shagufta Shahjahan told Dawn that the department carried out tests of drinking water samples collected from different parts of the province off and on.
In Lahore, she said, 25 per cent water samples were found ‘unfit’ for drinking in the last survey. She said the department had written to the city district government and water and sanitation agency (Wasa) to chlorinate and clean the water supply lines.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Masood Akhtar said waterborne diseases were on the rise. “During summer the consumption of water increases and people, especially children, are more prone to diseases like diarrhoea and gastronenterites,” he said.
Dr Masood said the public and private hospitals received 30 to 40 per cent such patients during the summer. He advised the people to use boiled water and ‘don’t trust filtered water.’
Wasa Managing Director Pervaiz Iftikhar was not available for comments.
An EPD survey shows that the defective sewerage system is one of the main reasons of water contamination. Due to defective system, sewage mixes with the water supply lines.
The survey suggests that the discharge of industrial effluents into the subsoil through holes should be banned in order to avoid ground water contamination. In rural areas, the practice of raw sewage irrigation is not only dangerous to human health but also causes contamination of shallow aquifer, it says.
It further suggests that all tehsil municipal administrations (TMAs) should prepare action plans for an effective drainage and clean water supply. The authorities concerned should develop their own standards to measure air and water pollution instead of adopting the World Health Organization's standards without tailoring them according to local needs, it proposes.
