ISLAMABAD, July 10: Speakers at a seminar here on Monday expressed grave concerns over the thousands of deaths caused by contaminated water every year in Pakistan and demanded of the government to declare clean potable water as the basic human rights of every individual.

Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) had organised a seminar on “The Killer Water: State’s Role and Responsibilities”.

Speaking on the occasion, water experts asked the government to ensure effective supply of clean drinking water to masses across the board by eliminating rural and urban divide. They said it was a matter of great shame for the country that almost half of the beds in the country’s hospitals were being occupied by waterborne disease patients in the 21st century.

They asked that how could a country without a basic amenity like water claim to have been busy in eradicating poverty and ensuring public health.

A German development consultant, Nils Rosemann, said access to improved drinking water supply was not only a basic need but also a basic human right and must be respected.

Expressing his dissatisfaction over official data which presented a rosy picture of the state of affairs in Pakistan, he said water crisis was too deep in the country and needed to be fought back on war footings.

While referring to his own study, Mr Rosemann said nearly 75 per cent of the population or some 125 million people in Pakistan had no access to clean drinking water. The situation was worse in rural areas compared to urban.

He suggested a three-track strategy i.e short-term and long- term plans and water governance, to solve water crisis in the country. He recommended purification, pollution control and improvement and maintenance in existing water networks and infrastructure as a short-term strategy to maintain the supply of clean drinking water to people.

He advocated local knowledge and water management as a long- term solution. He raised the issue of improving water governance, including regulation of ground water extraction and use. The three tracks needed sufficient investment in water sector and if the required investment was not done, it would be tantamount to human right violation, he stressed.

Tariq Masud Malik of the Network said people were dying due to consumption of contaminated water across the country but there was a callous apathy on the part of the government toward this crisis.

He said though legislations regarding the availability of clean water were available in Pakistan, lack of implementation had never allowed those legislations to benefit people. The government was doing lip service and nothing had happened on the ground.

Mr Malik criticised the National Water Policy and said the government had not done proper consultations with all the stakeholders. He also criticised the government’s decision to provide 6,000 water filtration plants, covering nearly all the union councils in the country by 2007, and said it was not a solution to the problem.

The operational and maintenance costs of the plants were very high. He urged the government to set water as a top priority. He said first the government should do proper survey and establish the exact number of people with no access to clean water rather than making tall claims.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s director water supply, Jamilur Rehman, narrated the initiatives of the authority to produce and supply clean drinking water to the residents of the federal capital. He discussed in details the sources and types of water-borne diseases.

The CDA, Mr Rehman added, took extra efforts and tested and cross-tested the water before supplying it to the consumers.

“The CDA is supplying 100 per cent clean water which is properly treated as per the World Health Organisation’s standards,” he claimed.

Besides CDA’s own testing, he said, the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) were also periodically cross-checking the water.