LAHORE, March 21: Water supply to the city remains under immense pressure with its quantity and quality deteriorating fast, thus mocking an official claim of providing clean drinking water to the people by the year-end, Dawn has learnt.

The underground aquifer of Lahore is depleting at a dangerous speed and water is now found as deep as 200 feet which was at around 50 feet only a decade ago. At the national level, the country used to have over 5,600 cubic meters per capita water, which has now dropped to 1,100 cubic meters.

According to world standards, water poverty starts with 1,000 cubic meters and Pakistan will be dropping below the poverty line within the next decade. The World Water Day has come as a grim reminder that the country is inching towards self-annihilation as far as water is concerned.

About the quality of water, a recent study of 11 cities, Lahore included, by the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) reveals that over two million people in these cities are drinking unsafe water, with a high arsenic concentration.

“Major industrial contributors to water pollution in Pakistan are petrochemicals, paper and pulp, food processing, tanneries, refineries, textile and sugar industries,” says the study. Only about five per cent of national industries conduct environmental assessment. The sugarcane-based industry, the second largest in the country, is a major cause of pollution.

“The salinity level of ground water is increasing. Industrial wastewater that includes toxic chemicals, organic and heavy metals is discharged directly into public sewers without prior treatment. There is reported leaching of wastes into groundwater, causing outbreaks of water-borne diseases. An estimated 250,000 child deaths occur each year in Pakistan due to water-borne diseases,” it said.

Commenting on water crisis in the city, Muhammad Jamil Bajwa, Nespak director general of environment and public health, said the city aquifer was depleting because the administration of Lahore did not conserve rainwater and all this water went to rivers and canals. The city should create infrastructure like deep ponds and parks which can help seep water into the soil. With population increasing, such places were becoming scarce, he said.

According to him, there are ways to contain contamination within the cities, but no one executes them. The main reason for the contamination is water consumption patterns. Supplies and consumption here are intermittent as 70 per cent use of water is done in morning hours. If water pipes are loaded, they resist invasion of contamination. A reverse pressure, however, is generated once supplies recede, and contamination, if any around water pipes, is sucked in. Once some kind of contamination seeps in, the entire distribution system is exposed, he said.

“The government had promised to install filters in all union councils (UCs) to provide clean drinking water to city dwellers, but only 15 UCs of 150 have received filters,” says Malik Aftab, a civil engineer. Contamination of water has been reported even where these filters have been installed. A link between polluted water and human health is established, but it seems that the news has not reached the government, which continues ignoring the fact at the risk of public health, he said.

The problem with sanitation services was that they were provided mainly by the public sector and were inadequate, inequitable and inefficient, he said.

“The government needs to set its priorities right. It started installation of filters at the union council level with World Bank’s money, but lost momentum mid-stream. Out of over 6,000 UCs in the country, about 500 UCs have filters. Most of them are either malfunctioning or have been poor maintained.

“Some 20 to 40 per cent beds in hospital are occupied by those suffering from waterborne diseases,” says Dr Yasmin Rashid. She said waterborne disease included typhoid, cholera, dysentery and hepatitis. They kill 33 per cent of patients in the country. The magnitude is staggering and should sock the rulers out of their present policy slumber, she said.