140 water supply schemes completed in three years

PESHAWAR: The provincial government has completed a number of projects to provide citizens with clean drinking water.

According to an official communiqué, 140 clean water supply schemes were completed during the last three years whereas 242 new water supply systems were installed under the umbrella project throughout the province.

Additionally, rusted and worn out pipelines were also replaced in 485 water supply schemes whereas 253 existing non-functional schemes were also made functional throughout the province.

Moreover, a total of 130 water supply schemes have been solarised whereas work on solarisation of further 200 water supply schemes is in progress. Under the umbrella project, 233 sanitation schemes were also completed throughout the province. The government has also established water quality monitoring laboratories in Mardan, Abbottabad, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan districts.

In the year 2013-14, an amount of Rs3281.758 million was allocated by the government for 22 developmental projects aimed at improving access to clean drinking water in the province. In the year 2014-15, Rs5851 million was allocated for 26 projects whereas in the year 2015-16, Rs7360 million were allocated for 93 developmental projects.

In order to promote awareness among the masses, a health hygiene promotion project has also been completed. The awareness project helped educate people and government officers on the harms of unhygienic water and methods necessary to ensure access to clean drinking water.

The government also plans to launch mega water supply scheme for the provincial capital, for which the feasibility study has been completed. Another project in the name of gravity flow has been completed in Abbottabad whereas work on gravity flow projects in Drosh and Batkhela areas is under way.

Under the gravity flow system, water will be supplied from source to the community without the use of any external energy. Majority of the mentioned schemes have been carried out in areas, which had no access to clean water, including Lakki Marwat, Shangla and Lower Dir.