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Thursday March 28, 2024

Dangerous water

By Editorial Board
December 11, 2017

Of all the duties of governance, few are as basic and essential as the provision of clean drinking water. Yet, as a recent Supreme Court hearing into safe drinking water and sanitation facilities in Sindh has found, it is a duty which is being shirked. Of the water samples tested in the province, a full 81 percent came back contaminated. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar even said that faecal matter is being deliberately released into the province’s drinking water. In the face of such evidence, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah – present at the hearing – could hardly deny the problem but did try to deflect responsibility away from his government. He claimed the water released to Sindh is contaminated with effluent from Punjab. Even if true, this does not excuse the Sindh government’s failure to provide clean drinking water. The chief minister also said that problem was not just restricted to one province. While this is also correct, the problem is by far the worst in Sindh and the inaction of others cannot excuse the incompetence of the Sindh government. Most shockingly, Shah said the government will not be able to meet a Supreme Court deadline of six months to provide clean drinking water to the people of Sindh. He is essentially admitting failure before even trying to solve the problem.

It would be no exaggeration to say that providing clean drinking water is essential for our progress as a country. Unsanitary water leads to the spread of water-related diseases like cholera, typhoid and hepatitis. The leading cause of child mortality in the country is diarrhoeal disease. The provision of clean water is far from an impossible task but it will require the government to plan and then execute those plans. The Sindh government would need to install water purification plants throughout the province and ensure they are given water, electricity and sewage connections. It would also have to ensure that water is supplied 24 hours a day since any stoppages allow sewage to be sucked in. Better water conservation policies need to be put in place so that water is not wasted. Such projects have been put in place many times before, with the federal government even funding them, but have always fallen prey to corruption and inefficiency. As much as the chief minister may try to blame others, his party has been in power in Sindh for the last 10 years and it has nothing to show for its rule. It is now up to the Sindh government and its chief minister to take responsibility for the largest public health risk in the province.