NAWABSHAH: About half a million people of Nawabshah are forced to drink contaminated water in the presence of Asia’s largest water filtration plant. The contaminated water is becoming main source of spreading diseases like typhoid, hepatitis, diarrhoea, and other waterborne diseases.

The Asia’s largest water filtration plant was installed during the tenure of Asif Ali Zardari at a cost of Rs1.5 billion in order to provide clean and potable water to the citizens of Nawabshah. The facility has a capacity to filter 14 million gallons of water on daily basis.

The said plant has a maintenance cost of Rs8.8 million per year. It was formally inaugurated by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. However, the filtration system could not provide potable water to the people as the 40-year-old water supply pipeline has completely decayed. It is also learnt by ‘The News’ that the said pipeline mixed with sewerage waterlines in many areas of the city.

It is pertinent to mention here that the public health minister of Sindh, on the directives of MNA Faryal Talpur, had promised to lay new lines of water supply and drainage system but no major breakthrough was witnessed in this regard.

‘The News’ contacted a professor of medicine Dr Saleem Faiz to understand the reverberations of drinking adulterated water. Dr Faiz divulged that diseases of liver, intestine and skin were fast spreading due to consumption of contaminated water that contained highly-toxic ingredients.