RAWALPINDI: Punjab Environment Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) has said that eight areas of the garrison city are receiving contaminated water and recommended laying new sewerage and water supply lines there.

Punjab-EPA had asked its local office to send a laboratory report of the water being supplied to different areas of the garrison city. On Thursday, District Officer Environment Mohammad Nawaz sent a report which confirmed presence of bacteria in the drinking water which caused stomach diseases.

A senior official of EPA told Dawn that the water samples had been collected from Satellite Town, Dhoke Kala Khan, Dhoke Ellahi Bux, Raja Zafarul Haq Road, Tipu Road and adjoining areas.

He said that the basic reason of the contamination was mixing of sewage with water as at some places leaking pipelines pass through the sewerage.

He said that the existing water supply lines were laid more than 50 years ago and mostly became rusty and old enough and there was a need to replace them.

He said that water supply lines should be away from the nullahs, drains and sewerage lines to eliminate chances of sewage mixing with drinking water.

Some of the areas like Satellite Town and Khyaban-i-Sir Syed had 150 mm drain in the streets which catered to internal domestic sewage. During heavy rains, they overflow causing inconvenience to the residents.

The indiscriminate disposal of the untreated sewage into the street drains and storm water channels of the city was a source of contamination, both for the residents and the ground water aquifer from which more than 50 per cent of the city’s drinking water was abstracted.

When contacted, District Officer Environment Mohammad Nawaz said that the report was prepared on the directives of the Punjab Environment Secretary for checking the quality of water being supplied to the residents.

He said the samples had been collected from the main schools and colleges in these areas. He said that water supplied to educational institutions were also contaminated which could endanger students’ health.

Replying to a question, he said the environment protection agency had suggested replacing the water supply lines with a view to stopping the leakages so that clean drinking water could be supplied to the residents.

A senior official of Water and Sanitation Agency said that the agency had not received the report and it was working to stop leakages in water pipelines in different areas of the city.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2014