PHC orders provision of clean drinking water

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to provide clean drinking water to the citizens by installing filtration plants and stopping the sale of substandard mineral water in the provincial capital and other parts of the province.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali allowed the writ petition filed by senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan, seeking action against the sale of unsafe bottled water and provision of clean drinking water to the people in the province.

The bench directed the provincial government to install water filtration plants at hotels, restaurants, hospitals, educational institutions, courts, bus stands and other public places.

The court directed the authorities concerned to repair the existing filtration plants in the city and other parts of the province.  

The court also asked the government to take action against those throwing garbage in the canals.

The bench allowed the writ petition after the provincial government and other respondent departments failed to submit proper reply in the writ petition.

The court observed that providing clean drinking water to the people was the responsibility of the state.

However, the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP), through its reply in the petition, informed the court that the government was going to execute the “Greater Water Supply Scheme” in Peshawar to provide clean drinking water to the citizens.

The WSSP, in its reply, said the government had signed a memorandum of understanding on April 24, 2017 with the Chinese government to conduct the feasibility for the “Greater Water Supply Scheme” project and installation of water flow meters.

The WSSP also submitted the reports of the drinking water samples and the tests conducted by the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Peshawar.

In the previous hearing, the court had directed secretary Irrigation Department to submit report about the position of Peshawar canals and explain what measures had been taken to make the canals clean, but the reply was not submitted.

The writ petition was filed by Muhammad Khurshid, a former deputy attorney general, seeking court direction for the government to repair the treatment plants installed in Peshawar, provide clean drinking water, ban the use of mineral water of various brands declared injurious, and unsafe for human consumption.

During the course of hearing, the lawyer informed the court that as per the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources report about Peshawar, the water of 11

out of 70 brands of mineral water used in the city was polluted.

He said the substandard brands of drinking water were being sold in the market, but the government had been unable to take action against them.