Muzaffarabad the capital city of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is facing a severe water crisis as 26 out of 27 water springs in the city was declared unsafe by the AJK Food Authorities, on Tuesday. According to official notification issued by AJK State Food Authorities, the water samples of all the springs were tested by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and the regulatory authority for research of water resources in Pakistan, found to be contaminated.
The only spring that passed the test was located at Mehraz Tanoliyaan, the notification said. Secretary Food of AJK, Ch. Muhammad Raqeeb said that the water samples from all the water filtration plants in Mirpur district were also being collected by the State Food authorities to ascertain their hygienic standard by the PCRWR experts. He said that a research report about the quality of the water filtration plants in Mirpur district would be issued once their water samples were tested by the stipulated research authority.
A recent survey revealed that several of the pipelines of the drinking water supply of the AJK Public Health Engineering Department in Mirpur city were passing very close to the sewerage lines, resulting in the supply of unhygienic water to the consumers. The survey also found that some of the water supply lines laid at the time of emergence of New Mirpur had rusted and lost their stipulated age limit, causing further deterioration of the water quality.—INP
