Water & Sanitation
Water has a deep effect on human health both as a means to reduce disease and as a medium through which disease-causing agents may be transmitted. Water is the basic need for survival for both human being and animals. Without oxygen and water, life cannot be sustained. Water is used not only for drinking but also for daily household works like washing clothes, cooking, washing cars, etc. Nearly 70% of the earth is covered with water and out of it only 0.03% is available for use. But this 0.03% is also unfit for drinking as is contaminated. Only polluted water is available. Contaminated water contributes to 40% deaths in Pakistan according to UN report.
In Pakistan the water impurity issue is raising day by day and now it is near about the alarming position. Water contamination is one of the major issue and it is estimated that approximately 2.3 billion people worldwide suffered by water born diseased each year. 60% of infant mortality in the world occurs due to waterborne infections and parasitic diseases. In developing countries due to unclean water and poor sanitation 2.2 million people die each year.
Most often the main source of water pollution is human being. Due to rapid population growth and use of chemicals in agriculture the rural communities are facing the water borne diseases and in urban areas due to industrialization are under the pressure of water related diseases and the density of these diseases increasing day by day. The main sources of water pollution are discharge of untreated raw sewage from households and factories, chemicals dumped from factories, agricultural runoffs that are dumped into rivers, streams and groundwater sources, urbanization, synthetic organic substances. However, bacteriological, arsenic and turbidity are the leading causes of contamination in the drinking water. Arsenic can cause various types of diabetes, skin, kidney, heart, black foot diseases, hypertension, birth defects and multiple types of cancer, according to the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR).
This section of study is conducted to assess the perception and practices of common people about the quality of drinking water and to what extent its affect the health and hygiene of communities. How these disease affect the livelihood and income of poor families.
