04 April 2004	Sunday	13 Safar 1425

RAWALPINDI, April 3: A new socio-economic survey has found that 35 per cent of the households in Rawalpindi with an average family size of 6.5 persons have monthly income of less than Rs6,000 indicating that the per capita income here is much below one dollar per day.

The survey was conducted by Nespak, a state-run engineering and consultative organisation, during its ongoing technical study prior to the implementation of the Asian Development Bank-funded Rawalpindi Environmental Improvement Project (REIP).

Giving details of the study, the Nespak team leader Naheed Ghazanfar told Dawn that the survey was carried out in Dhoke Elahi Bakhsh, Satellite Town, Pir Wadhai, Alnoor Colony and Dhoke Ratta.

She said the percentage of the households below the poverty line among the sample households was almost 50 per cent in Dhoke Ratta Amral and Dhoke Elahi Bakhsh, while in the relatively higher income area of Satellite Town, the percentage was 45 per cent.

"Urban poverty in Rawalpindi is multifaceted, ranging from underemployment to limited or inadequate poor quality of water supply, lack of sanitation facilities with no sewerage system, limited solid waste disposal and dilapidated housing," Ms Ghazanfar maintained.

She said the findings also showed that about 90 per cent of the households were not satisfied with the water quality they consumed. Some 98.84 per cent of the respondents were of the view that the water quality provided to them had never been tested. Besides, 53 per cent of the households were getting piped water supply for two to four hours duration, while 35 per cent were getting it even less than for two hours daily.

In Dhoke Ratta and Pir Wadhai, she said, the situation was alarming as water pipes were noticeably leaking and the community taps were located away from the households. About 55 per cent of women in these localities pitched water from these community taps. About 49 per cent of the households made two trips daily for pitching water, while 28 per cent made even more than two rounds.

Since the supply of water was usually intermittent and water quantity delivered was much below their requirements (40-50 litres per capita) some women resorted to washing clothes outside their houses. Children in these areas could be seen bathing in the storm water drains.

"Besides, water quality in the surveyed localities is below the WHO standards, mainly due to bacteriological contamination as a result of poor sanitation facilities or due to location of tubewells along the main sewage and storm water channels," she said.

During the study, 75 per cent of the respondents have confirmed water shortage in the city, while as many as 24 per cent negated the existence of any shortage. In Satellite Town, more than 83 per cent of the household have confirmed water shortage, she said.

The findings also revealed that about 64 per cent of the households had no sewerage facilities and the domestic water was carried in open drains to the nearby storm water channels. Those drains were often clogged with plastic bags and other solid waste as a result of which overflowing sewerage water could be seen flooding the streets. Only 36 per cent of the households had access to adequate sewerage system, she observed.