Business community demands new water treatment plant in Capital to overcome water shortage
- July 15, 2020
In 2012, the government had planned to set up four sewage
treatment plants in Islamabad at an estimated cost of Rs.2 billion, but despite a
lapse of ten years, no progress has been made on this project, therefore,
government should take immediate steps to set up sewage treatment plants in
Islamabad to treat wastewater and reduce water pollution. This demand was
made by Tahir Abbasi, Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce
and Industry in a statement. He said that the water sewage plant setup in Sector
I-9 Islamabad was also non-functional so it should be made functional
immediately so that the wastewater that was flowing to various streams could
be treated for beneficial use.
Tahir Abbasi said that currently only two water treatment plants were available
in Islamabad, but were unable to supply the required water to the citizens due to
low capacity. He said that supply of clean drinking water in Islamabad was a
serious issue while citizens were facing acute water shortage in various parts of
the city. He said that due to non-availability of clean drinking water, water borne
diseases including hepatitis were on the rise in the residents of Islamabad. He
said that the present government has planned to set up a new water treatment
plant to supply 52 million gallons per day water to the twin cities. He urged that
establishment of new water treatment plant should be expedited to provide
clean drinking water to the residents of twin cities that would reduce the water
borne diseases as well.
Saif-ur-Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI said that more than 37 water filtration
plants were installed in different sectors of Islamabad but most of them were
either faulty or supplying contaminated water as their filters were not replaced
in time. Due to this situation, the citizens were getting contaminated water
which was having adverse effects on their health. Therefore, he demanded that
MCI should rehabilitate all water filtration plants in Islamabad and install new
plants in those markets where this facility could not be provided as yet. He
further said that the filters of all water filtration plants should be replaced in
time so that citizens could get clean drinking water that would reduce the ratio
of water borne diseases in the city.