Punjab chief minister's mines and mineral secretary has said that the arsenic level in potable water in the urban areas of Multan and Layyah districts and other parts of southern Punjab has risen to a dangerous level.
He said the Atomic Energy Commission of Pakistan, which is working at the nearby Chashma Nuclear Power Plant, is burying nuclear waste in the area, leading to an increase in arsenic traces in potable water. Resultantly, the average age of the residents has decreased by 10 years. Similar is the case of Dera Ghazi Khan district where situation is not different.
The secretary said that he had received various complaints from the district administration of Layyah that arsenic level in potable water in Katcha has become hazardous. Water filtration plants, deep hand pumps and other methods to purify water at local level have failed and the only remedy left is installations of modern water filtration plants with the membrane to filter arsenic traces, he added.
The department recommended immediate inspection of the Katcha area by the physical health engineering department, chemical analysis of the water when it is underground and use of technology capable of screening arsenic particles. The secretary had apprised the chief secretary and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif about the situation and sought their intervention in the matter.