Potable water being supplied to 23 major cities of the country including Karachi is contaminated with bacteria, said experts speaking at a seminar here on 15 March.
They said that in Pakistan now water shortage in most of its cities is a reality, adding in a study carried out by the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) found that water containing bacteriological contamination to an alarming level is being supplied to 23 major cities of the country, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Karachi Chapter General Secretary Dr Qaiser Sajjad sad that as many as three million people acquired waterborne infections in the country. He said that some 1.2million people die from such infections including 250,000 children under age of five years.
He said that in Sindh province the PCRWR tested eater samples of three main cities of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur.
He said that 87 percent samples of water collected from Hyderabad and 75 percent of those collected in Karachi and Sukkur contained bacteria.
He said that non-availability of clean water in over 75 percent areas of Karachi leaves the population with no option but to drink contaminated and unsafe water or to spend major chunk of their income to buy mineral and bottled water at backbreaking rates.
He said that majority of low-income population could not buy costly bottled water of local and multinational companies, who are making a windfall these days, as tap water supplied to citizens is generally contaminated.
He said the issue of water shortage is worsening as our main sources of water, whether from dams, rivers, or shallow and deep wells sunk in local groundwater us steadily deteriorating in quality and quantity.