MULTAN: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is expected to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of first-ever automatic teller machine (ATM) water filtration plant at Adam Wahan Village of Lodhran after Eid.

The ATMs will be installed under the Punjab Saaf Pani Project in Hasilpur (Bahawalpur), Khanpur (Rahim Yar Khan), Minchanabad (Bahawalnagar) and Lodhran tehsils.

Punjab Saaf Pani Company Manager (Community Mobilisation and Education) Javed Akhtar said the machines were being installed on a pilot basis to ensure the WHO-recommended quantity of three-litre water to a person.

He said the installation would also help reduce wastage of clean drinking water.

He said survey had been completed in all the four priority tehsils and the sites proposed for the installation of reverse osmosis (RO) water purification plants.

He said under the project RO filtration plants would be installed in the areas where the groundwater was found brackish or saline while Ultra Filtration (UF) plants would be installed where the underground water was contaminated.

“Initiating new water supply schemes and rehabilitation of the abandoned ones is also a part of the project. The chief minister is expected to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of a plant in Lodhran after Eid,” he said.

Akhtar said besides Bahawalpur region the company had also started work on Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi Khan and the project would be extended to all districts of the province.

Awaz Foundation Chief Executive Officer Ziaur Rehman said his organisation was a partner in the project and provided assistance in the constitution of village committees.

He said the committees had been established in all priority tehsils and people were being trained to run the plant.

He said initially 73 villages of the four tehsils having brackish water had been selected for the installation of plants.

He said three plants -- one large and two small -- would be installed at Adam Wahan.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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