KARACHI, Sept 29: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday expressed concern over the inadequate quantity and poor quality of drinking water being made available to the people of rural coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan.

They called for addressing the problem on a priority basis. They held that unsafe water was not only affecting public health but also causing an increase in numerous problems.

The seminar on Safe Drinking Water and Better Health was organized jointly by the University of Karachi and British Council on the KU campus under a higher education link between the Sociology Department and the Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology of the University of Karachi and University of Glasgow.

The link Socio-environmental Uplift of Rural Coastal Communities in Sindh and Balochistan is one of the 10 links of higher educational institutions of Pakistan with the British universities, which is being funded by the Department for International Development, UK.

Director of the British Council Charlie Walker said that the coastal zone of Pakistan was central to the county's economy and people. "It supports a very wide range of human communities in Sindh and Balochistan from the smallest most isolated rural village to the metropolis of Karachi," he added,

With the mention that the health and social standards of these coastal communities, and in particular the availability of safe and clean drinking water, were therefore vital issues.

Coming on the link activity, the director said that a crucial part of the link thus far had therefore been to visit the local communities of Rehri (Sindh) and Sonmiani (Balochistan), in order to conduct surveys which looked not only at the quality of the local water, but also at levels of the awareness of the issues around water.

Dean of the KU's Arts faculty Dr Muhammad Shamsuddin said that water in near future could be used as strategic weapon to destabilize the economic and political landscape of the weak and tail-end nations, including Pakistan.

He observed that water provided sustainable base for a number of systems functioning within the universe independently, yet maintaining perfect harmony and balance with its sister systems.

The poor rural communities in Sindh and Balochistan depended almost on the coastal zone for their livelihood, most of which were centred around in-shore fisheries, livestock and agriculture, he pointed out, saying that coastal zone pollution had increased and there had been a reduction in rain and fresh water input from rivers, resulting in increased saltwater.

Dr Azra and Peter Meadows from the University of Glasgow, who are actively carrying out researches along with their Pakistani counterparts, talked on the safe drinking and better health in the UK perspective and stressed for fair treatment to the coastal population.

They opposed the unsustainable use of natural resources and called for improving the quality of water meant for the rural Sindh and Balochistan. They maintained that rural community, particularly those living along the coast were not getting sufficient, or good quality, water while more water was needed for agriculture purposes as well.

They were of the view that the crisis could be overcome only when the role of scientists, water managers and populations were participatory one. Dr Naureen Aziz Qureshi of the Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology shared her findings of the survey in the Rehri village, and said that the village, located some 12 kms from Karachi, had a population of 40,000 people, but was not receiving water through pipeline.

Giving details of her research work, initiated about 30 months back, she pointed out that the means of getting water in the rural coastal areas still remained to be springs and pipes, but all were found highly contaminated. None of the samples - springs, storage tanks and containers in houses - acquired and analyzed appeared clean or hygienic.

She recommended a well-developed infrastructure, an effective system to manage and maintain the infrastructure, and governmental pursuits for safe water in the area. She also stressed on incentives for the population and awareness about safe drinking water, besides flow of money for water supply schemes.

A teacher in the Sociology Department, Nabeel A. Zuberi, discussed the sociological issues of coastal communities and mentioned that women had to spare hours for fetching water from far flung areas and, as such, were unable to contribute to the uplift of family.

He said that main problems of the coastal areas included seasonal employment or non-employment, debt due to unemployment, putting children to work for financial gain, involvement of women and children in water fetching activities and contaminated drinking water, which needed to be addressed.

He observed that in Pakistan, villages children often spent five-six hours a day fetching water. "By giving safe drinking water to our population, we could cut down our health budgets while, on the other hand, we will be able to involve women in economic activities."

Dr Ejaz Ahmad, Deputy Director General of the WWF-Pakistan, said that community was the major stakeholder when it came to natural resources. He discussed the process of community involvement in water management and stressed on identifying interested groups or individuals who could go for implementing some small water projects.