Drinking water: P-WON for introducing new technologies

Chairman, Pakistan Water Operators Network (P-WON) Syed Zahid Aziz has underlined the need of disconnecting illegal water connections, installation of waste water treatment plants and overcoming wastage of clean drinking water. This he said while chairing the meeting of P-WON steering committee here, which was hosted by Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP).
The meeting was attended by representatives of Water and Sanitation Authorities (WASA) of Hyderabad, Karachi, Quetta, Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore, and Rawalpindi, representative of Capital Development Authority (CDA), World Bank, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT and Al-JAZARI Academy of Lahore.
The Chief Executive Officer of WSSP, Engineer Muhammad Naeem Khan, General Manager Operations Nasir Ghafoor Khan and General Manager Projects Atta-ur-Rehman also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, recommendations for improvement in the quality of drinking water, overcoming the shortage of clean drinking water, membership of P-WON for other utilities and devising Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for P-WON were also discussed.
The meeting was informed that WASA Faisalabad has prepared water regulations, which will be shared with other utilities in the country, which will help in improving the provision of clean drinking water to the consumers. The global change in weather was also discussed in detail and agreed upon to prepare future plans in accordance with the new changing global weather scenario. It was agreed upon to duly consider the impacts of new changes of weather on water reservoirs along with its preservations.
During the meeting of the steering committee, it was also agreed to invest in the capacity building of officials of water utilities both at national and international level along with registration of contractors (involved in water supply) and devising effective water distribution network. The meeting agreed to adopt the standards laid down by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for clean drinking water supply and to adopt the means of verification / testing as per the WHO and UNICEF guidelines.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of P-WON Syed Zahid Aziz, who is also Managing Director of WASA Faisalabad, said that illegal water connections must be disconnected to improve the service delivery across the country. The illegal water connections are a great to the respective water utility and needs to be disconnected to improve water supply to consumers. Provision of as much as possible quality services to consumers will also enhance the revenue of the water utilities, which is a need of the hour", said Zahid Aziz.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of WSSP, Engineer Muhammad Naeem Khan said that hosting the meeting of the steering committee is an honour for WSSP, which is the only utility in the country dealing with clean drinking water, waste water and solid waste management. He said that by interacting with other utilities of the country, WSSP is striving hard for quality services to its consumers.