Traces of sewage found in over 33% water samples in Karachi

KARACHI: Traces of sewage were found in more than 33 percent water samples collected from 118 areas in Karachi, ARY News reported.

It has been revealed in a shocking report presented before the Sindh High Court (SHC) during hearing of the inquiry of water commission’s task force that human fecal is getting mixed in potable water in Karachi and other several cities of the province.

Altogether, 460 water samples were collected from surface and underground sources in Karachi (118), Thatta (16), Hyderabad (40), Jamshoro (30), Tando Mohammad Khan (20), Tando Allahyar (11), Badin (36), Mirpurkhas (20), Tharparkar (28), Nawabshah (26), Khairpur (28), Sukkur (30), Shikarpur (32) and Larkana (25).

The water samples were analysed for detailed physiochemical and microbiological drinking water parameters.

The analytical results showed that in Karachi 118 samples were collected from different sources and found 107 (90.7%) unsafe for human consumption. 21 samples (17.8%) were found unsafe for drinking because of contamination from presence of turbidity values beyond the safe limits (5NTU). 11 samples (9.3%) were found unsafe because of presence of high content of total dissolved solids (TDS). 104 (88.1) samples were found microbiologically contaminated because of coliform bacteria and 40 (33.4) samples were found fecal contaminated.

The water commission that has been established on order of the Supreme Court expressed concern over provision of contaminated water and questioned what good were filtration plants if the citizens were getting sewage mixed water.