First surface water treatment plant starts working

LAHORE: The first surface water treatment plant installed by Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority (PAPA) has become operational relieving around 30,000 people of Renala Khurd from drinking brackish water due to which they were facing various health issues.

The brackish water, which these villagers were drinking contained excessive Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), which was very harmful for their health. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), TDS was the term used to describe the inorganic salts and small amounts of organic matter present in solution in water.

‘The principal constituents are usually calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium cations and carbonate, hydrogencarbonate, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate anions,’ a document of WHO revealed, adding biological contamination may also present in high TDS.

WHO’s document said that the presence of Total Dissolved Solids in water may affect its taste and Total Dissolved Solids level of less than 300mg/litre was excellent, good, between 300 and 600 mg/litre, fair, between 600 and 900 mg/litre, poor, between 900 and 1200 mg/litre, and unacceptable, greater than 1200 mg/litre.

However, the Total Dissolved Solids level in the two villages of Renala Khurd where Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority installed its first of its kind surface water treatment plant in Punjab, was having more than 3,000 mg/litre.

Environmentalists said TDS in drinking water primarily originates from natural sources, sewage, industrial waste, urban run-off, and chemicals used in the water treatment process. Inorganic minerals were considered inert because they don’t contain enzymes and therefore aren’t usable in the physiological process of human cell growth.

These harmful minerals accumulate because the body cannot excrete or use them, they added. Dr Tariq Chishti, a general physician, said high levels of Total Dissolved Solids in drinking water can lead to kidney stones, especially when Total Dissolved Solids level was over 500mg/litre.

He said other health problems like heart disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal problems, such as stomach pain and diarrhea, and in extreme cases, cause kidney disease, liver disease, and even death may occur due to consuming water with high Total Dissolved Solids levels.

The project was also first of its kind in Pakistan, said Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Syed Zahid Aziz while talking to The News.

He said for the first time, under this project, canal water was made drinkable in Renala Khurd. The project was completed in September 2023 and now it was providing clean drinking water through two Markaz-e-Aab to around 30,000 residents of two villages of Renala Khurd, he said and maintained that the project cost including its one-year O&M was around Rs74.190 million.

The storage capacity of clean drinking water at the two Markaz-e-Aab was 36,000 litres and 24,000 litres respectively, he said and maintained the plant was imported from Turkey and clean drinking water was supplied to the two Marakaz-e-Aab through 3.7km water supply line.

The dispensing area of both the Marakaz-e-Aab has separate facility of water collection for men and women, he said and maintained that the full capacity of the plant, which was compact in design, was 10,000/litre/hr.

Zahid Aziz said that the authority with collaboration of an NGO also distributed around 3,000 jerry cans of 10 litre each free-of-cost to the citizens so that they can take clean drinking water home and store it safely.

PAPA was also working to establish a CBO in the area for which the authority has started awareness drive. After the formation of a CBO, the local residents will take care of the plant. Zahid Aziz said that both the villages where clean drinking water was supplied through this project didn’t have any water supply scheme or any other drinking water supply facility in the past.

‘The project has the capacity to increase the number of Marakaz-e-Aab in this area,’ he said, adding new schemes may be introduced soon for the more nearby villages where no other water supply scheme existed. Answering a question about the operational cost, he said PAPA was saving the operational cost because the plant stores water in its tanks and switched off automatically.

Zahid Aziz said the authority was designing similar projects in various districts of the Punjab as per the vision of the Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.