Government trying to provide filtered water to quake-hit areas

21 Oct, 2005

Federal Minister for Environment, Major Tahir Iqbal (Retd) has said that government was trying to make sure the availability of safe and filtered water to the people of quake-hit areas.
Talking to BBC, he said the water pipes had been broken due to quake and people preferred water of local springs instead of bottled water. He said that they had brought one treatment plant for the area that could filter about two thousand gallons per hour. Another plant would reach in few days, he added.
Major Tahir said that the manufacturers would be asked to design plants having capacity of processing 300 gallons per hours. He told that mobile generators unit had also been provided so as to move it where it was needed.
"We are going to have about five to six treatment plants for the Muzaffarabad and the Bagh areas," he said.
Some springs in the area have been destroyed completely, while water in some of them has been reduced. It was learnt that new sources have also came up because of the shifting of some mountains and people are using that water.
Talking about land sliding, he said that on the way from Bagh to Muzaffarabad, those mountains having trees were safe from sliding, while the barren mountains sledded and these slides also affected trees.
The federal minister said that they were trying to provide liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) especially to those people living in camps.
"We have requested the international donors to send us LPG bottles so that the people could keep their tents warm and also cook their food," he said adding that it would help to stop these people from cutting the trees to save the environment.

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