PESHAWAR: MOL Pakistan Oil & Gas Company has spent over Rs90 million to date to ensure provision of clean drinking water to the less developed districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Karak, Hangu, Bannu and Kohat.
According to a press release, MOL Pakistan has funded and executed several water supply schemes including the installation of hand pumps, installation of wells and supply of water through bowsers in far-flung areas of the said districts.
Water supply to Nizrab Banda, one of the most underdeveloped villages of Hangu, is one of such examples where MOL Pakistan has single-handedly completed the project.
Citing serious water-borne illness among residents of most of the villages located along the Bannu-Kohat road for lack of access to clean drinking water, MOL Pakistan conducted an Electrical Resistivity Survey (ERS) in the area.
It was done in coordination with the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Karak.
An open well was dug that catered to the needs of thousands and provided them access to clean drinking water.
After completion, the scheme was handed over to Public Health Engineering Department.
On the request of local community of the Hoti Banda village in Kohat, MOL Pakistan conducted a detailed assessment in coordination with government authorities and after analysing the ground situation, the scheme was approved, executed and handed over to Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) for future operations and maintenance.
In the far-flung areas of Karak where the situation worsens during summers, MOL Pakistan in collaboration with Karak’s district government sponsored the unconventional scheme of water supply using bowsers.
The makeshift arrangement catered to this most urgent need of the locals at several locations in the TAL Block and greatly appreciated by the local communities.

A PAIR of mobile filtered drinking water stations will be used by Bellingen Shire Council to show its determination to eliminate as much plastic waste as possible.
They will be used at community events as an initiative to support local activities in an environmentally sustainable manner and are easily fitted to an existing tap.
Research shows Australians spend over $500 million on bottled water every year and the single use plastic bottles have a devastating impact, particularly when entering the marine environment where sea creatures are killed after mistaking theme for food.
Transportation of the bottled water burns fossil fuels and most PET bottles end up in landfill taking up to 1000 years to break down.
Bellingen Mayor, Cr Dominic King, said tap water has one per cent of the environmental impact of bottled water and encouraged use of the mobile stations.
"It is the healthy and environmental alternative to plastic bottled water and can limit the amount of waste disposed of by cutting down on the amount of single use plastic drink bottles used,” he said.
The water stations are available to anyone who is holding a community event and arrangements may be made by contacting 6655 7300.

Water supply to Nizrab Banda, one of the most underdeveloped villages of Hangu was one of such examples where MOL Pakistan has single-handedly completed the project.
Citing serious water-borne illness among residents of most of the villages located along the Bannu-Kohat Road due to lack of access to clean water, MOL Pakistan conducted an Electrical Resistivity Survey (ERS) in the area in coordination with the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Karak.
An open well was installed that has catered to the needs of thousands and provided them undisrupted access to clean drinking water.
After completion, the scheme was handed over to Public Health Engineering Department.
On request of local community of the Hoti Banda village in Kohat, MOL Pakistan conducted a detailed assessment in coordination with government authorities and after analysing the ground situation, the scheme was approved, executed and handed over to Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) for future operations and maintenance.
In the far-flung areas of Karak where the situation worsens during summers, MOL Pakistan in collaboration with Karak’s district government sponsored the unconventional scheme of water supply using bowsers.
“MOL Pakistan’s commitment to social welfare was example of a corporation helping society and those in dire need.
Whereas many companies see their CSR obligations as a burden, MOL Pakistan has always gone above and beyond the legal requirements to assist people in need.
This benevolence is essential for progress and Pakistan needs more generous benefactors to continue to develop as a nation,” the statement concluded.
Published in Daily Times, February 23rd 2018.

A water analysis report from civic-run BYL Nair Hospital has revealed severe drinking water contamination, with coliform and E. coli bacteria found in all five samples that were collected from various storage tanks.
Since the report came out on February 20, the hospital authorities have started a chlorination process for the time being.
The source of sewage leakage has also been identified and repairs are being carried out.
According to a source in the hospital, many patients and staff members complained of a foul smell emanating from the drinking water for the past week.
Tests carried out at a civic laboratory in Dadar revealed that the water collected from all five points was unsafe for drinking.
Health worry The 1,424-bed hospital has more than 90% occupancy at any given point of time.
Experts say that exposing already ailing patients, whose immunity is low, to contaminated water may cause dysentery, vomiting and other problems.
“While such contamination may not cause immediate problems in healthy individuals, patients who are immunocompromised may react instantly,” said a doctor.
Hospital dean Ramesh Bharmal said all necessary precautions have been taken.
“The water is completely fine now,” he said

ELKO — Claims of unfit drinking water by residents of Owyhee are spurring a request to the school district to supply clean water.
Jennifer Eisele and Tyson N. Manning, cite a report by the Environmental Defense Institute titled “Little Reason for Confidence in the Drinking Water on the Duck Valley Reservation” that explains samples of drinking water in 2015 and 2016 “show significantly elevated levels of lead, arsenic, barium, copper and fluoride.” The February report recommends Duck Valley residents not to drink the water until “the levels are not only below federal maximum contaminant levels but are also not exceeding reasonable public health guidelines.” The Environmental Defense Institute is an Idaho-based organization that focuses on nuclear issues.
In a letter to the Elko County School District, Eisele and Manning point to the report and ask that “the school district immediately supply clean drinking water to Owyhee Combined Schools for their consumption as the local drinking water is unfit.” “It is your duty to protect our children while they are in your care,” wrote Eisele and Manning, who also said that in September they tried to raise awareness of the water supply’s contamination by nuclear waste development that posed “a large number of possible health consequences.” “We encouraged the population to stop drinking the water immediately and to relocate, if at all possible,” Eisele and Manning wrote.
Superintendent Jeff Zander said the school district is investigating the report and requested a testing of the water for nuclear contamination.
“The health and safety of our students across the district are our No.
1 priority,” Zander said.
“We have reached out to a local contractor to test the water at the school.” “Hopefully, we’ll have the water samples back Friday,” Zander said, adding that he plans to talk to Shoshone-Paiute tribe officials and make a decision on what to do.
When asked about his expectations for the school district to respond, Manning said he understood the district’s budget would be allotted for other things, and said the request wasn’t a demand for immediate action.
Manning said aletter to the district and a Facebook post on Sept. 30 titled “Remember My People,” was to raise awareness that the drinking water in Owyhee “cannot be trusted and is not safe.” “We’ve been encouraging the tribe not to drink the water, but they have low economic means and we can’t ask them to buy water forever,” Manning said.
“If we can’t supply to every tribal home, there has to be a way to safeguard our children.”

Poisoned wells in Millsboro.
And the problem isn’t just toxic pollution from industrial sources: Thousands of New Castle Countians deal with routine flooding and drainage problems right in their back yards Toxic algae blooms in the Newark reservoir forced the cancellation of a triathlon due to concerns for swimmers’ health Communities in Sussex County don’t have safe drinking water – and to make matters worse, some are getting help far sooner than others Delaware’s beaches routinely shut down after rainstorms due to elevated bacteria levels and runoff Residents of small communities like Ellendale face chronic issues with drinking water quality and wastewater infrastructure In New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties, water infrastructure – some dating back to the Nixon administration – is aging, crumbling, and risking contamination of the environment and our drinking water There’s no avoiding the fact that our quality of life, our health, and our economy rely on clean water, but Delaware chronically underfunds water investments: currently, we fall short by $100 million each year.
That’s why we’re sponsoring House Bill 270, bipartisan legislation that would invest comprehensively in clean water for Delaware.
Altogether, those “little things” represent a huge part of Delaware’s water pollution problem.
HB 270 would create a Clean Water Trust to begin clearing a backlog of projects across Delaware dealing with water quality, infrastructure, and flooding.
Under our plan, many low-income and working Delawareans – about 1 in 7 eligible taxpayers, and half of all Delawareans – would pay nothing at all.
Ironically, many people pay more for bottled water each month.
But when the State is distributing bottled water to protect entire towns from health problems and birth defects, when we’re afraid to swim in local ponds because blue-green algae is neurotoxic, and when the roads we drive on are flooded and washed out, leaders need to ask themselves whether their top priority is politics or our future.
One way or another, we will pay for our water problems: the question is whether we pay a little bit today, or ask our kids, our health, and our economy to pay a lot tomorrow.
If you believe that tap water should stay drinkable, that local fish should be edible, that water should be swimmable, and that washed-out roads should be drivable, call your legislators and tell them to support HB 270.

WorldStage Newsonline— As part of efforts to safe guard the quality of water supply across the country, the Federal Government on Thursday unveiled the Nigeria Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) to protect Nigerians from consuming contaminated water.
Speaking at the event in Abuja the Minister of Water Resources, Engr.
Suleiman Adamu said the ministry has been assigned the responsibility of enforcement.
He noted that not much had been done in respect to enforcement of standard with water producers, carrying on with business without regard for the quality.
Adamu said: “This issue precipitated the reassignment of role of stakeholders during the review of the standard in 2015 by the Technical Committee.” He said the ministry was committed to upgrading the water quality laboratories located in Lagos, Akure, kano, Minna, Enugu, Gombe, Maiduguri, Sokoto, makurdi, Umuahia, Asaba and Port Harcourt.
He identified clean water as one of the important determinant to good health adding that, about 60% of diseases in developing countries are related to unsafe water supply and inadequate sanitation.
The minister said according to World Health Organisation (WHO), “diseases related to drinking water contamination represent a major burden on human health and interventions to improve the quality of drinking water provide significant benefits to the health and well being of the people.” Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Dr. Musa Ibrahim said much progress has been made in providing water supply facilities in Nigeria.
Ibrahim said: “According to data from 2016 multiple indicator cluster survey 5 (MICS 5), access to improved drinking water supply sources is estimated at 64.1% in the country.
Giving the scale of the challenge, this is highly remarkable achievement.” He noted that the quality of water is highly compromised during collection, trough transport to point of use, so that for the same period the percentage access to safe drinking water is 32.1%, adding that the NSDWQ NIS-554-2015 will improve quality of water consumption.
Director General Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Osita Aboloma, represented by the Deputy Director SON, Mrs. Elisie Ofili emphasized the use of that NSDWQ by all stakeholders in the water supply sector.

L-R: Engr Oladimeji Botimi, Director Watr Supply Ondo state, RUWASSA; Dr. Musa Ibrahim; Permanent Secretary FMWR; Engr.
Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources; Mrs. Elisie Ofili, Deputy Director Standard organisation of Nigeria and Mr. Emmanuel Awe, Director water supply, FMWR at the unveil of Nigeria Standard for Drinking Water Quality, in Abuja.
Speaking on Thursday during the unveiling of the NSDWQ in Abuja, Engr.
Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources, noted that the ministry had been assigned the responsibility of enforcement, saying, not much had been done in respect to enforcement of standard with water producer carrying on with business without regard for the quality of drinking water supplied to the people.
He said that the water quality laboratory had the responsibility for water quality surveillance and enforcement of the standards.
Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), he said, “diseases related to drinking water contamination represent a major burden on human health and interventions to improve the quality of drinking water provide significant benefits to the health and wellbeing of the people.” Dr. Musa Ibrahim, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources said much progress had been made in providing water supply facilities in Nigeria.
He explained that “according to data from 2016 multiple indicator cluster survey 5 (MICS 5), access to improved drinking water supply sources is estimated at 64.1% in the country.
Giving the scale of the challenge, this is highly remarkable achievement.” He noted that the quality of water could be highly compromised during collection, trough transport to point of use, so that for the same period the percentage access to safe drinking water is 32.1%, adding that the NSDWQ NIS-554-2015 will improve quality of water consumption.
He said, “FMWR have been given the responsibility to enforce the standard any state agency that goes away with what we have in the standard will be penalized, we have a fine that water board will pay if the water is not according to standard.
“For the private suppliers of water we have a standard that they must collect sample of their water for test in any water laboratories of their choice every year to carry out analysis to be sure that what they are drinking is safe, adding that enforcement of standard on private water supply and owners borehole will be carried out by the water laboratories.”

LAGOS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — Nigeria on Thursday launched the Standard for Drinking Water Quality to promote the availability of safe drinking water for all citizens.
The availability of clean water supply was the focus of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said at the launching ceremony in Abuja.
The standard sets limits for water contaminants that are hazardous to health and also provides guidelines for meeting the mandatory limits for safe water.
Quoting a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the minister said it was estimated that about 60 percent of all diseases in developing countries were related to consumption of unsafe water and poor sanitation.
Adamu said diseases related to drinking water contamination represented a major burden on national health care delivery.
He said Nigeria had made some progress in expanding the citizens’ access to improved water supply with the current access standing at 67 percent.
The minister however said it was saddening that not much had been achieved in respect of enforcement of standards, adding that water producers still operated without due regard to quality of water.
In 2005, the National Council on Water Resources recognized the need to produce a national standard for drinking water quality for the country.
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LAGOS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — Nigeria on Thursday launched the Standard for Drinking Water Quality to promote the availability of safe drinking water for all citizens.
The availability of clean water supply was the focus of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said at the launching ceremony in Abuja.
The standard sets limits for water contaminants that are hazardous to health and also provides guidelines for meeting the mandatory limits for safe water.
Quoting a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the minister said it was estimated that about 60 percent of all diseases in developing countries were related to consumption of unsafe water and poor sanitation.
Adamu said diseases related to drinking water contamination represented a major burden on national health care delivery.
He said Nigeria had made some progress in expanding the citizens’ access to improved water supply with the current access standing at 67 percent.
The minister however said it was saddening that not much had been achieved in respect of enforcement of standards, adding that water producers still operated without due regard to quality of water.
In 2005, the National Council on Water Resources recognized the need to produce a national standard for drinking water quality for the country.
Enditem