New water supply system for urban, rural areas

Islamabad

Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) is preparing a report that would show the availability of water and its distribution in each and every union council after which new water supply system would be developed to meet requirements of all the rural and urban areas of the city.

The report would carry the details of supply of water from all the resources including Simli Dam and Khanpur Dam and its distribution from water storage facility at Shah Allah Ditta to all the areas of the federal capital.

The primary sources of clean drinking water are tube wells, water of open reservoirs and channels and the distribution system comprises large pipe network, sumps and service reservoirs.

Furthermore, G-I pipe network laid about 50 years ago has out lived its life. Over dozing of chlorine during chlorination, causes lead coating on G-I pipes to contaminate treated water. Pipe joints and gate valves are often found to be leaking. Sewerage and water supply lines have been laid side by side in streets having small right of way.

Deputy Mayor of Islamabad Syed Zeeshan Ali Naqvi said he has visited the water storage facility at Shah Allah Ditta and reviewed the water distribution system in the face of complaints by various segments of the society.

"The Mayor has entrusted me with the task to review current water distribution system and recommend measures to enhance its capacity and performance," he said.

The deputy mayor said he has chaired couple of meetings in which the relevant officials gave him briefing about the water supply system, adding "I will prepare a comprehensive report in next couple of weeks after which drastic measures will be taken to improve supply of water in the city."

Vaccine: While expressing overall satisfaction over the quality of vaccine stock management including the storage and distribution mechanisms, independent third-party vaccine auditors Thursday urged the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) to replace manual record-keeping with vaccines logistic management information system (vLMIS) in all areas.

The observation was made during EPI’s first-ever independent vaccine audit, which was conducted to streamline the vaccine stocks and management system through identification of loopholes and issues. Findings of the vaccine audit were shared in a provincial consultative meeting.

Independent third-party auditors, along with representatives of a mission from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) visited vaccine warehouses situated at the federal and provincial EPI departments to obtain firsthand information about the storage, record keeping and distribution mechanism of vaccine stocks.

Sharing the findings of the audit, representatives of GAVI mission shared that despite electricity issues, backup systems are working properly at the federal and provincial warehouses as a result of which the validity/potency of vaccines is appropriately being observed on a regular basis.

They called for greater emphasis on following the principle of ‘first come first out’ at the district level.

Provinces also shared their feedback on the findings of the audit. They urged that standardized tools be used for vaccine storage and distribution, and issues pertaining to dearth of human resource be overcome as a priority.