253 tubewells in City supplying arsenic water: survey

LAHORE
Majority of the tubewells operated by Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) in the provincial capital are pumping out arsenic-contaminated water, resulting in a serious health hazard for the citizens who are consuming tap water unaware of the fact.
The person revealing this fact was no other than Wasa Managing Director Ch Naseer who said arsenic contamination was present at almost every tubewell of the agency. He said they were monitoring the situation closely and planning to take remedial measures.
It is pertinent to mention that the last survey to check the water quality of the city by Environmental Protection Department (EPD) Punjab and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was held some five years back. Sources said as per that survey, 253 tubewells, out of 392, of Wasa were found to be contaminated with arsenic.
Termed a slow poison, arsenic is present in rocks, soil, air, plants and animals and its long-term use might cause different forms of cancer, said environmentalists. They added that the element could not be easily detected during ingestion for being tasteless, odourless and colourless.
They said arsenic in drinking water was absorbed by the body and distributed by bloodstream and it did not enter the body through skin or by inhalation during bathing.
The body parts, which accumulate arsenic the most over time, are nails and hair. Though most of the element is removed through urine, skin, hair and nails also help the body get rid of it, doctors say.
They say the permissible limit of arsenic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, is 10 parts per billion (ppb), but here in Lahore the level is more than 50 ppb in many areas.
Sources in the EPD revealed that the localities, where arsenic was found in high concentration in tubewells, included Qazi Park, Qaiser Town, Ravi Cricket Ground, Majeed Park, Paracha Colony, Takia Khushrianwala and Jia Mussa in Shahdarah Town; Latif Chowk Farrukhabad and Aziz Colony (Ravi Road); Ali Park No 1 Shahi Qilla, Elahi Park Chowk Nakhuda (Wasanpura), Bhagiwal, Chamra Mandi (Misri Shah), Gujjarpura D-2, Kanji House, New Singhpura, New Tezab Ahata, Ahata Thami Dar, Ghoria Park (Walton Road), Gulshan Colony opposite Packages, Canal Bridge and Tajpura D-Block.
Ghaziabad bus Stop and Al Faisal Town (C and A blocks), Tajpura Pind, Pir Naseer tubewell (Harbanspura), Iqbal Park No 2 and Iqbal Park No 3, Akram Park (Amer Road), Children Park Gole Ground, Khuda Bakhsh Park (Bhagatpura), Lady Sofia Park (Bhagatpura), Nabi Park Gole Bagh, New Chah Miran, Scheme No 2 Tanki Cantt, Wasa Colony (Shahdbagh), tubewell No 2, 3, 4 of Shadbagh, Match Factory, GT Road Shahdarah Subdivision, Baradari Road Shaukat Colony (Begum Kot), New Fakhrabad, Old Begum Kot, Saeed Park, Masti Gate, Texali Gate, Bhatti Gate, Old Ravi No 3 and Old Ravi No 4.
Timber Market, Qilla Lachman Singh, Data Nagar, Khokhar Road, Qadaffi Colony (Bengali Bagh Graveyard), Tajpura Ground (Wasanpura), Old Chah Miran, Akbari Gate, Lohari Gate, Shahalam Market and Yaki Gate.
Ashfaq Chowk U/C 59, Bahar Shah Road (Jore Pull), Kotli Pir Abdul Rehman, Gosha Angori, Jehangir Road, Sansi Quarter, Fayyaz Park, Dars Bary Mian (Moghalpura), Shah Kamal Road, Shah Din Park, Pakistan Mint, Fatehgarh, Bagh Saithan, Angori Bagh Scheme No 2, Achant Garh, Azeem Ground, Gawala Colony, Baba Bari Pir, Jamilabad and Saher Wari Takiya.
Madhu Lal Hussain, Milop Street GT Road near Muslim High School, Salamatpura near Tanki, Mehmood Booti No 1, Dhobi Ghat (GT Road), Saad Di Mill, Yaqoob Colony, Mehmood Booti Disposal, Darbar Road, Sirajpura, Jail Road Gulberg, T Block Gulberg II and C Block Gulberg III.
M Block Kachi Abadi Gulberg, P Block Gulberg III, Nawaz Sharif Colony (Ferozepur Road), H Block Gulberg III, Makkah Colony Gulberg III, G Block Gulberg II, Q Block Gulberg II, Nisar Press Gulberg III, Ittehad Colony Gulberg III, Gopal Nagar No 1, Saint Marry Colony Gulberg III, Qurban Police Lines Gulberg II, Cilren Park and Nian Bazaar (Garhi Shahu).
Larex Colony, Shimla Hill, Upper Mall, Scotch Corner, Habibullah Road, Zaman Park, Ahmed Block (Garden Town), Ali Block Garden Town, Tariq Block Garden Town, B Block Faisal Town, C Block Faisal Town, Nashat Road, Albadar Hospital Kot Lakhpat, R Block Model Town Extension, Q Block PHA Park, Bakar Mandi, Qadr Park, Mushtaq Town (More Samanabad) and Mustafa Town.
Tanki Ground, Pak Block (Allama Iqbal Town), Nishtar Block, Jehanzeb Block, College Block, Karim Block, Clifton Colony, Hamza Block, Neelum Block, E Block, Nargis Block, H-I Block, Fruit and Vegetable Market, H-II block Sabzazar, C Block Muslim Town, Old Shah Kamal and New Shah Kamal.
Old Lehri Shah, Windson Park, Chahdry Colony, New Lehri Shah, Kamranabad (Rehmanpura), A-III Block (Johar Town), F-I Block (Johar Town), G-IV Block (Johar Town), J-III Block (Johar Town), Mustafabad, B-I Block (Johar Town), Shah Di Khoi, Nepar Road, Mozang Adda, Dhobi Mandi, Nasir Bagh, Nisar Scheme, Avari Hotel, Ibrahim Road and Masoom Ganjh (Bilal Ganjh).
Mohni Road, Umer Degree College, Bagh Munshi Ladha, New Karim Park, Yaseen Road, Karim Park, Qaiser Park, Liaqatabad, Commissioner Office, Main Outfall Road, Akram Park, MC High School, Nehru Park, Islampura, Allah Wali Mosque, Rehmat Flour Mill and Shafiqabad.
Rafiabad, Burji Adda Bund Road, Sanda Patwar Khana, Bilal Park, Raffle Range, Riwaz Garden, B Block (Gulshan-e-Ravi), G-Block (Gulshan-e-Ravi), Firdous Colony, Jafaria Colony, Sodiwal Park, Nonarian Chowk, A Block (Gulshan-e-Ravi), Muslim Park, D-Block (Gulshan-e-Ravi), Raj Garh, Wasa Colony (Nawankot), E-Block (Gulshan-e-Ravi) and Babu Sabu New Scheme.
Sikandria Colony Bus Terminal, Lytton Road, Kacha Tember Road, Queens Road, Saadi Park, Janazagah, Kot Abdullah Shah Mozang Adda, Messon Road, Shah Shamas Qadri (Race Course), Water Tank Shadman Market, Dongi Ground Fazlia Colony, 2 D 1 (Green Town), 3 D 1 (Green Town), 3 D II (Green Town), 4 C II (New Green Town), Baghrian Chowk, 5 D 1 (Green Town), 1 B-II (Green Town), 5 D-1 (Green Town), 4 D-II (Green Town), Gowala Colony (Green Town), 2 B-J (Township), Qanchi Stop (Chungi Amar Sidhu), Baba Freed Colony, Kacha Jail Road, Nishtar Colony, Sitara Colony, Bhatti Colony, A-II (Township), Tanki No 3 (Township) and 4 A-II (Township).
Environmentalists said the government should declare it mandatory to carry out tests for bacteria, nitrates and organic and inorganic compounds on every tubewell at least once a year. They said modern tests like Mass Spectrometry / Inductively Coupled Plasma, Electro-Thermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometric Method, Manual Hydride Generation/Atomic Absorption Spectrometric Method and Silver Diethyldithiocarbamate methods should be introduced across the province to test of presence of arsenic in water.
The WASA MD said the agency had installed 100 water filtration plants in the city while another 100 were coming soon. He said the citizens should use these water filtration plants and avoid drinking tap water directly.
To a question of maintenance of installed water filtration plants, he said special teams were constituted for this purpose and the Wasa’s response time to any complaint was five to six hours.
Recently, DCO Lahore Capt (r) Usman had also directed the CDGL’s Environment wing to carry out water testing of all tubewells and water taps installed in the government schools.
District Officer (Environment) Younas Zahid said water sampling and testing was outsourced to a private company and EDO Education and his departments were only supervising it. He said a detailed report about the water quality would be shared with media after completion of the ongoing testing process.