Karachi being supplied untreated water for 1.5 months

[Naveed Yaseen]

KWSB fails to pay dues to chlorine suppliers
Friday, October 09, 2009
By Qadeer Tanoli

Karachi

The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has yet to pay its dues to two suppliers of chlorine, who have stopped supplying chlorine to the utility. Consequently, the entire population of the city is being supplied un-chlorinated water for the last one-and-a-half months, The News has reliably learnt.

Sources at the KWSB said that the utility was liable to pay Rs20 million to Rs25 million to two industries which produce chlorine in the country.

Ittehad Chemical, which is operating in Kala Shah Kako, Lahore, and Sittara Chemical, Faisalabad, are the two industries which solely produce chlorine in the country and the KWSB has not been able to pay its dues to both the industries for the last one year.

Due to non-payment of dues on behalf of the KWSB, both the companies gradually decreased the supply of chlorine from July 2008 onward and finally stopped its supply completely over a month ago.

The sources further informed this scribe that the KWSB has a consumption of eight tonnes of chlorine everyday and one kilogramme of chlorine is sold at Rs23 per kg.

First, the chlorine suppliers dropped their supply to six tonnes per day and further brought it down to four tonnes before completely stopping supplies in August.

According to sources, the water utility has no more stock of chlorine now for its filter plants and it has been left with no option but to supply un-chlorinated water to the citizens.

The KWSB supplies water to the entire population of the city through its six filter plants namely, Gharo, Pipri, North East (both old and new), COD and the Hub.

The KWSB gets a water supply of 100 million gallon per day (MGD) from Hub Dam and 550 MGD from Dhabeji pumping station.

It is learnt that chlorine is the only chemical which can purify the water and there is no other chemical which could be used to make the water potable and make it bacteria-free on a large scale.

Sources claim that this is for the first time in the history of KWSB that the supply of chlorine was stopped for such a prolonged period. They said that the utility has no other option but to clear its liabilities through enhancing its revenue generation.

The lack of revenue, they said, is why it failed to pay dues to the chemical suppliers. The utility was also facing trouble regarding payment of dues to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) amounting to eight billion rupees.

Doctors who specialise in water-borne diseases say that un-chlorinated water may cause several illnesses - some of which are potentially fatal.

Dr Mubina Agboatwalla said that unchlorinated water can cause Hepatitis-A, Hepatitis-E, Typhoid, Gastroenteritis and several other diseases. She said that the consumption of even a single glass of untreated water can easily cause these diseases. Adding, she said that water reservoirs must be chlorinated regularly, explaining that, after 24 hours, chlorine loses its effectiveness — hence the need for chlorination on a regular basis without the lapse of a great deal of time.

The News made several attempts to contact the managing director of KWSB, Qutubuddin Shaikh on his cell phone to get his version, but he was inaccessible.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=202316