A survey conducted by Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has revealed that out of 239 water supply schemes in district Attock, 25 percent are supplying contaminated water which contains micro-organisms, arsenic, iron and hardness.
Mostly, untreated water is being supplied to the consumers, which is causing many waterborne diseases among adults as well as kids alike. Only 43 percent are supplying water safe at source whereas, 25 percent are supplying water unsafe for human consumption at consumers end. PCRWR is conducting a country wide study of water supply schemes under Provision of Safe Drinking Water project. The project launched in 2006, is now nearing completion that is billed as the most detailed and comprehensive survey of its nature in Asia.
The outcome of the survey conducted in the Attock district has revealed that these schemes are providing piped water supply to an enumerated population of 1.066 million persons on 239 surveyed water supply schemes. It was found that 173 schemes were functional, whereas 66 were non-functional for one reason or the other. As a result, nearly 52 percent of the total enumerated population remains unsaved by the water supply schemes. Talking to APP, Chairman PCRWR Dr.Muhammad Aslam Tahir said lack of proper management, operation and maintenance of the water supply systems is one of the critical issues of the water supply schemes. At present, the common problem encountered in the schemes is a complex of various institutional, financial and technological issues, he said. Moreover, most of the schemes are unable to meet expenses from water charges being collected from consumers, which reflect financial unsustainability of the schemes, the Chairman said. The survey manifests that awareness about the hazards of the unsafe drinking water and the importance of safe drinking water is totally negligible. There appears no concept regarding use of safe water for drinking purposes, prevailing in the general public and among the managers of water supply schemes, as well. The survey has shown that 34 percent of the schemes are over 20 years old, 33 percent between 10 and 20 years while the remaining are less than 10 years old. Most of the schemes have used GI pipe for the distribution
Retirees with pensions sleep better: Retirees who get regular pensions and enjoy other retirement benefits tend to sleep better. Sleep tends to get more disturbed with age, while work schedules and job stress can also disrupt sleep, Health News reported. To investigate how retirement affected sleep, researchers followed 14,714 workers for seven years before they retired and for seven years afterwards. The workers retired at an average age of 55 years. Eighty per cent of the participants were men. All were surveyed annually for several health and social factors, including sleep disturbances. Just 4 percent had retired due to health reasons. While the percentage of people who reported sleep disturbances crept up gradually as they aged from 23 percent seven years before retirement to 25 percent the year before a person retired it dropped sharply when a person did retire. One year after leaving the work force, 18percent of the study participants reported sleep disturbances. But this percentage became 21 percent seven years after retirement. Men saw the greatest improvement in sleep, as did managers, people who worked the night-shift, and people with the most demanding jobs. Overall, people were 26 percent less likely to report sleep disturbances after they retired, but the difference was particularly strong for people who had suffered from depression or mental fatigue during their working life; their risk of sleep problems dropped by 45 percent. The only group of people who actually slept worse after they retired was those who had left the workforce for health reasons; they were about 1.5 times as likely to have sleep problems after retirement as before. It seems proper pension level to guarantee financial security after working age prevented sleep disturbances and improved overall health of the retirees.
BB’s murder case hearing
tomorrow : Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi No 1 will resume proceedings of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed murder case on Saturday (tomorrow). Around 15 witnesses have recorded their statements before the court so far.
system, the useful life of which is less than 20 years. It necessitates a program of rehabilitation coupled with redesigning of water supply schemes in the district. In view of the wide spread pollution found in the water supply schemes, survey emphasized that water supply systems should be properly planned, constructed and maintained to minimize the pollution in the system.
