Safe drinking water Punjab Govt’s top priority
Access to tap water is very low in rural areas – 13 per cent — as compared to 43 per cent in urban areas of the Punjab and quality of drinking water remains substandard as the major sources are hand pumps and turbines supplying contaminated or brackish water to local populations.
Comprising 137 tehsils in 36 districts, the Punjab province is the most populous of the five provinces of Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 110 million people.
Main drinking water source is groundwater in the province, which once was considered to be safe, but over the years it is increasingly found to be contaminated with bacteriological and chemical pollutants.
Punjab SaafPani Company-South (PSPC-South) and Punjab SaafPani Company-North (PSPC-North) have been established to plan and execute the program with the aim of providing safe drinking water in phases to over 62 million people in the rural areas of the Punjab province.
In areas of small scattered communities where water TDS is less than 1,000ppm, Ultra Filtration Plant may be installed.
These communities are mobilized to work with the company in acquiring land and running plants operations.
More than 10,000 SaafPani Centers will be constructed in these 55 tehsils and this will provide clean and safe drinking water to 40 million people of province.
In Round1 to Round 3, PSPC-South will launch safe drinking water supply program in six tehsils of Lodhran, Dera Ghazi Khan, ChakJhumra, Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan Tribal Area and Rajanpur Tribal Area tehsils to serve 1,047 villages/settlements with an estimated population of 3.64 million.
During the current financial year (Round I and Round II), PSPC-North will launch safe drinking water supply program in seven tehsils of Layyah, Choubara, KrorLalEsan, Khanewal, Kabirwala, MianChannu and Jehanian where 5.28 million rural populations will get a sustained access to safe drinking water 1,537 villages and settlements.
This safe drinking water program is unique in the sense that it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that such a gigantic step has been taken for ensuring provision of safe drinking water across the rural areas the province.