LAHORE, 12 July 2007 (IRIN) - Urban water quality in Pakistan has deteriorated dangerously over the past decade and the country's most heavily populated province, the Punjab, is at risk, say specialists.

In Lahore, capital of the Punjab, east Pakistan, leaking sewage pipes are allowing dirty water to seep into drinking water pipes, causing an increase in water-borne diseases.

Each day Shakila Aslam steps outside her Lahore home, she must tread carefully. Treacherously slippery, sewage-soaked mud greets her. Broken sewage lines leave huge pools of filthy water on the road and a stench lingers across the area.

"It is very difficult for the children to get to school and college or to go to the shops," says Shakila, 40.

Shakila lives with her four children in the Shah Jamal area of Lahore, a residential area made up of large bungalows and much smaller houses.

The leaking sewage pipes in the area are the result of recent work to lay new lines. A spokesman for WASA (Water and Sanitation Agency), which is carrying out the project, told IRIN: "They will be completed very soon".

In a report released in February 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said 20-40 percent of "people in hospitals [in Pakistan] are suffering from water-borne diseases - gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera, dysentery… and other serious diseases". The report said every third Pakistani "drinks unsafe water".

Arsenic, flouride

Japanese and US experts are currently investigating high arsenic levels in major cities in the Punjab, including Lahore and Faisalabad, the provinces' second largest city with a population of 2.6 million people.

In the summer of 2006, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its local partners began a programme in Rahim Yar Khan District in the southern Punjab to identify water sources laced with arsenic and raise awareness about its presence. Arsenic is thought to leach into water from rocks and soil in many areas of the Punjab.

Since the mid-1990s, there has also been concern about bone deformities caused by contaminated water. In the village of Kalalanwala on the outskirts of Lahore, dozens of children were found with spinal and joint problems in 1998. The problem, which has also been seen in other parts of the Punjab, has been blamed on excessive fluoride in the ground water.

Experts have also warned that the leaching of pesticides and industrial effluent into the ground water is poisoning sources.

"We are dealing with bacterial and chemical contamination of ground water in an integrated manner here," said Deepak Bajracharya, the UNICEF provincial chief for the Punjab.

Gastroenteritis

According to the WWF, 250,000 child deaths each year are a result of water-borne diseases. Many mothers know what this means in real terms.

"I lost my eight-month-old baby boy in August 2005. He developed gastroenteritis and died in my arms. The doctors could do nothing," says Uzma Javed, 24. She said she could "never forget" the suffering of her child and "fears all the time" for her three-month-old baby.

Deaths due to gastroenteritis, acute diarrhoea or other water-borne illnesses rise each year during the summer, as water consumption increases, scarcity worsens and rains contribute to flooded sewage channels which often flow into clean water supplies.

Since April this year, at least 19 people are reported to have died of gastroenteritis in the southern province of Sindh, which faces an acute water shortage. At least three other deaths have been reported in other parts of the country and at least 6,000 people have been admitted to hospitals countrywide suffering from this condition.

Early in June, a rise in gastroenteritis cases was reported in Lahore, with at least 70 people said to have been visiting hospitals daily.

Boiled water

Inamul Haq, executive district officer for health, said the government had "set up a special unit to teach people how to avoid gastroenteritis and other such diseases".

The authorities consistently urge the population to boil drinking water. However, according to many families that is easier said than done.

"I have four children under 12, plus my husband and sick mother-in-law. Everyone drinks water around the clock in summer. It is almost impossible to boil and then cool it in sufficient quantities," said Mahmoona Ahsan, who lives in the Mughulpura area of Lahore.

Like many households in the country, Mahmoona's family does not own a refrigerator and relies on blocks of ice bought from the market to cool water.

"Who knows what water they use," says Mahmoona, who says she is aware of the risks of contaminated water, but is "helpless".

Efforts by the government to set up water purification plants have as yet had only a limited impact.

Per capita water availability

In its 2006-2007 Economic Survey the government of Pakistan said only "66 percent of the people in Pakistan have access to clean water". The growing scarcity of water and contamination of existing sources was a major problem, it said.

Per capita water availability in Pakistan has slumped from 5,000 cubic metres (cu. m.) in 1951 to 1,100 cu. m. The World Bank defines "water-stressed" as those having 1,000 cu. m. of less.

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