Clean Water

A recent report of the Pakistan Medical Association states that nearly two-thirds of the country’s population is deprived of clean potable water. The report notes that Pakistan’s poor water quality is responsible for 30 percent of illnesses and 40 percent of deaths in Pakistan. Access to clean drinking water in a basic human right. Due to unavailability of the same people are forced to either buy bottled water at their own cost and expense, or else make do with boiling tap water, which is unfit for human consumption and responsible for all kinds of diseases. Boiling water may not necessarily kill off all harmful disease-causing bacteria or remove heavy metals generated from industrial waste. The discharge of various effluent, waste and pollutants into water bodies, including industrial pollution, not only causes harm to the environment and marine life, but most importantly, it adversely impacts human health and mortality. A contributing factor to poor water quality is the unregulated discharge of untreated waste into water bodies and an absence of effective filtration systems. In the absence of policies and corresponding enforcement of water quality regulation by state authorities, the risk of danger to the public will continue to grow.