Safe drinking water

Just another neglected necessity

84% of the population does not have access to safe drinking water according to a study conducted by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR). Rana Tanvir Hussain, Minister for Science and Technology, while briefing the senate on the availability of clean drinking water made an alarming revelation stating that of the 72% water supply schemes that were actually functional, 84% had supplied water unfit for human consumption.

That around Rs 279 million had been spent in four years on projects to increase availability of safe drinking water is simply criminal. In Sindh and Punjab around 14% of water supply sources are contaminated with arsenic that is above the 10–50 parts per billion limit; prolonged consumption of which can be fatal.

Reports on the abysmal condition of basic necessities such as clean drinking water, affordable healthcare and better public education are aplenty. The lack of attention or concern towards these reports is eerily familiar on part of the persons responsible as they set them aside with the words “we have taken notice”. Little is done on the implementation end and the situation remains more or less the same.

The irony is that ministers and representatives of the people that are elected to solve these problems themselves can afford better versions of all these necessities provided by the private sector while the common man is left to his own devices. Each province gets a hefty development budget each year but it is either under-utilised highlighting lack of institutional capacity. or prioritised to be used for high visibility infrastructure projects providing election sloganeering material or is misappropriated.

Provincial governments should increase their focus and expenditure on the vital issue of water cleanliness and its security. Professionals should be in charge of existing and new projects in order to avoid inefficiency and corruption. Roads, bridges, power plants and arsenals will only take the country so far – eventually a plateau will form that only an educated, informed and healthy populace can overcome.