National News

Via ReliefWeb, a report from the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development: Water everywhere, but not a (safe) drop to drink. Excerpt:

Months after the heaviest monsoon rains for over 100 years fell on southern Pakistan, the flood water is still not receding – leaving the rural populations in dire need of access to safe drinking water and appropriate sanitation.

Karachi Some unknown poisonous element Wednesday killed thousands of fish and other species at the Kenjhar Lake, one of the largest freshwater sources that supplies 70 per cent of drinking water to Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan.

The onslaught of fish, cows, and dogs which drank the water, was seen early yesterday morning. Even the seashells, which are found in the bed of the lake died and lifelessly floated on the lake surface and the shore, wildlife official and witnesses said.

FOLLOWING a joint study by the UNDP and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) which found the sub-soil drinking water in southern Punjab to be of alarmingly poor quality, Sheikh Zayed financed the installation of 15 reverse osmosis water filtration plants in the region, each costing around Rs20 million.

“Many people do not believe that a car can be properly cleaned without using water. I keep my car dirty to show people who are reluctant about the products being applied to their cars for the first time,” says Muhammad Anas.

“I give demonstrations to convince car owners that it’s possible to clean their car without using water. I think this business is also about changing mindsets,” said Anas who owns a waterless car wash in Defence Housing Authority.

A Sindh Assembly’s body, dealing with the impure bottled water issue, recommended the government to increase punishment for the suppliers of contaminated bottled water after it was informed on Saturday that at least 28 firms had been found supplying such hazardous water.

They recommended that the imprisonment should be extended from the existing one year to five years and the fine from Rs50,000 to Rs0.5million.

I travelled to Karachi last week for an imminent family wedding and the first thing that hits you when you come out of the Airport is the weather. While in Islamabad we are still softly moving towards summer and have not really packed away our shawls and stuff, Karachi is hot in every sense of the word! It could be the mausam, the dangers lurking around all corners, the killings or just the hot models on all leading billboards inviting you enticingly to buy their brand of lawn!

Pakistan is one of 57 countries currently most off-track to meet its sanitation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target to halve the proportion of people without access to adequate sanitation. On current trends Pakistan is due to halve the number of people lacking sanitation services by 2025, missing the MDG sanitation target by 10 years, according to a new report released today by international aid agency, WaterAid.

Low irrigation efficiency can push Pakistan into food insecurity, scientists warned at a seminar at the University of Agriculture (UAF) on Friday.

Addressing a training programme on improving irrigation techniques, UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that people need to be taught the latest water management techniques and must phase out traditional irrigation methods. He said that only a high efficiency irrigation system could steady the country’s water crisis.

Government agencies are still unsure what caused the contamination of the Keenjhar Lake, which killed thousands of fish and other forms of marine life, while the water utility claimed that water being supplied to the city from the lake was safe for human consumption.

A majority of the existing Hindu temples in Pakistan are in a dilapidated condition due to indifference of the successive governments in Islamabad but another disturbing development has alarmed the country's marginalised Hindu community. The sacred pond at Katas Raj temple located on a hill in the Choha Saidan Shah area in the Chakwal district of Pakistan Punjab is drying up at a rapid pace due to the large supply of its water to the nearby towns through tube wells.