Most tubewells supplying contaminated water: Wasa MD

LAHORE: Majority of the tube wells 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 tube well 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 tube wells, 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.
Environmentalists said the government should declare it mandatory to carry out tests for bacteria, nitrates and organic and inorganic compounds on every tube well 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 tube wells 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.