KARACHI: About 10 lakh residents of the old City area are drinking contaminated water, a Karachi Municipal Corporation survey has revealed.

Samples taken by the Corporation show that water tanks and pipes in eight out of every 10 multi-storey buildings are rusty and the water unhygienic and unfit for human consumption.

In most cases, the survey shows, the water tanks have not been dried, cleaned or disinfected for decades.

And water pipes have not been replaced or repaired since installation at the time of the construction of the buildings in some cases half a century ago.

In many buildings, the pipes are close to the sewage lines and water is contaminated through leakages, especially at the joints in both the water and the sewage lines.

The high percentage of water contamination, doctors said, was the main cause of the high [number of] incidents of gastric disease cases in Karachi.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from London,] British forces in the Persian Gulf are going to be increased by a small [number] to help “protect” Kuwait and neighbouring treaty states, Deputy Foreign Minister George Thomson announced on Tuesday night.

Mr Thomson said the Persian Gulf was a particularly vulnerable area and said Britain must remain there to get local rulers to co-operate in raising the living standards.

He stated that Soviet influence had increased greatly over the last decade in the Middle East.

“But the Arab states are fiercely nationalistic and would never consent to be reduced to the state of Soviet satellites,” he said.

The Minister added that in view of the large supply of Soviet arms to certain Middle East countries it was impossible for Britain to deny other countries the right to defend themselves by refusing them arms.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016