Pak Senate told 84 pct population lacks access to safe drinking water

Pakistan's Senate has been told that 84 percent of the country's population does not have access to safe drinking water.

According to a study prepared by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), only 72 percent of the nation's water supply schemes were found to be functional and 84 percent of those are supplying water not fit for consumption.

The Dawn quoted Science and Technology Minister Rana Tanvir Hussain, as saying that this alarming statistic existed in a country where commercial banks have posted windfall profits in excess of Rs.475 billion since 2014.

The PCRWR report further reveals that 14 percent of the water supply sources in Sindh and Punjab are heavily contaminated with arsenic, well above the permissible limit of 50 parts per billion.

Mr. Hussain revealed that Rs. 279 million had been spent on the Provision of Safe Drinking Water project since 2013.