UPPER DIR: The district administration with the financial assistance of a non-government organisation will clean ponds supplying potable water to Dir town.

Deputy commissioner Dr Imran Hameed Sheikh, taking notice of the dilapidated condition of ponds built in early 1980s, had urged the Sarhad Rural Support Programme to finance their cleaning and also install a filtration plant.

The SRSP, with financial support from the European Union’s Peace Project, approved Rs700,000 to undertake the project, which would benefit over 70,000 people.

The local residents said that the ponds constructed at Panakot near the official residence of the deputy commissioner were the main source of supplying drinking water the district headquarters.

But these were not covered, making them vulnerable to contamination, thus causing spread of water borne diseases.

The residents said that every year, hundreds of people were hospitalised for gastroenteritis and hepatitis with experts linking the diseases to consumption of contaminated water.

They appreciated the district administration and SRSP for launching the water purification project.

“For decades, we have been drinking polluted water, but no one has paid attention towards its purification. We were supplied diseases in shape of water,” said Abdullah, a local resident.

According to him, a doctor at the district headquarters hospital had tested the water in laboratory in 2000 declaring it be 90 per cent contaminated.

The doctor had concluded that the water was causing several water-borne diseases, including hepatitis, said Abdullah.

“No public representative has ever paid any attention to clean the water ponds, though millions are shown spent on the schemes,” he deplored.

Another resident, Zareen Gul, said the residents had been drinking contaminated water since early 1980s, adding that people had long been demanding installation of a filtration plant and cleaning of the water ponds.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014