QUETTA: Consuming vegetables and freshly grown produce is linked to good health, but in the heart of Quetta, farmers endanger the lives of consumers by growing crops using contaminated water from urban drainage.

For two decades, farmers have cultivated crops on Sabzal Road where contaminated water flows side by side with crops along the stretch of the road.

As a result, clean water used for agriculture also becomes contaminated, spreading bacteria, viruses, and parasites to crops and animals alike.

Hospitals in Quetta have been awash with patients suffering typhoid, fever and diarrhea as the consumption of fruits or vegetables that have been exposed to dirty water also carries great risk of developing food-borne illnesses.

Dr Muhammad Sadiq Achakzai, a gastroenterologist in Quetta, told Dawn.com, “Hepatitis, typhoid and stomach problems are constantly on the rise in the city as a result of cultivation of crops through filthy water.”

According Dr Achakzai, a large number of citizens suffer from water-borne diseases as well.

At the cost of Rs30 million, the provincial government established a water treatment plant at Sabzal Road to purify the contaminated water and minimise bacterial impact. But the growers prefer to use the dirty water for cultivation as it is more cost effective.

“Cultivation of crops through contaminated water does not need fertilizer,” said Naseer Ahmed Kashani, the Director General Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Balochistan.

“We have issued 86 notices to growers for not using purified water,” Kashani added.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is drawing attention to water issues in Pakistan, said that vegetables of all kinds are being cultivated throughout Quetta using water polluted with urban waste on a small scale.

“On almost a thousand acres, vegetables and others crops are cultivated through drainage water,” said IUCN Balochistan chapter chief Faiz Kakar.

However, problems with waste management are not limited to fluid wastes alone.

According to sources in the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation, while the city generates nearly 635 tonnes of solid waste every day, the corporation only has the capacity to dispose 272 tonnes – with the rest flowing through the city. Solid waste from hospitals and houses floats over filthy water in the streets.

“This is indeed an alarming situation,” Dr Achakzai said.

Naqeebullah, a grower on Sabzal Road, denied cultivation through dirty water but admitted that some farmers do use it.

Unaware of the consequences, citizens have been buying vegetables cultivated with the drainage water in Kasi Road, a fruit market located in the heart of Quetta.

Shopkeepers feel little pressure from authorities and sell their wares without fear.

Mostly, the poor and marginalised members of society are victims of water-borne diseases contracted when these vegetables are consumed.

“Once, all 30 employees of a hotel had hepatitis,” Dr Achakzai revealed, adding that acute hepatitis can lead to liver failure.

Authorities have repeatedly claimed that these growers will not be allowed to further endanger lives.

However, despite past claims and warnings, growers continue to cut corners and pursue practices that pose risks to public health.