Most of the ground water in Killa Saifullah is potable, however, safety of this water may be questionable. Mostly water obtained from tubewells, open surface wells, karezes and brooks is used as drinking water while in some areas PHED has constructed water supply schemes and drinking water is supplied through overhead and community tanks. Electricity and diesel operated tubewells, open surface wells and springs are used to provide water through these schemes. According to the Public Health Engineering statistics, 32.4 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water through these schemes. No previous data are available on water supply coverage of the population.

As it has been indicated above, about one third (32.4%) of the population is supplied with drinking water through 48 water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department. In case of overhead tanks or direct pumping, water is supplied through house connections and a monthly flat water rate is charged from the consumers. Most of the schemes are provided with community tanks from where children and adults fetch water. The remaining population obtains water from open surface wells, karezes and springs. In collaboration with UNICEF, the Water and Sanitation Cell of the Local Government and Rural Development Department has installed 160 deep well hand pumps throughout the district which has made fetching water a slightly more easy task. Basically these hand pumps have been installed on already existing open surface wells, therefore the number of sources of water has not increased. It is estimated that these hand pumps have benefited a population of 56,960 persons. In the areas far from villages, women and children fetch water for domestic use. Sometimes they use donkeys and small trolleys if they have to bring water from a distant source. However, in the villages women are not asked to fetch water from community tanks or other sources; male family members do this job, because people usually live near the water source.

Only four out of the 52 water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department are not functional. One reason is non-availability of operation and maintenance (O&M) budget and staff. Out of 48 functional water supply schemes, 42 have been handed over to the community and all these schemes are functioning satisfactorily.

The water supplied through schemes is not chlorinated. However, all community tanks are lined and water pipelines are laid one metre below the surface to avoid breakage and subsequent water contamination. The majority (36) of the schemes are spring based while 4 schemes are based on dug-wells. Out of the remaining 12 schemes 10 are based on electric tubewells and 2 on diesel operated tubewells. Although water supply schemes have facilitated people by providing drinking water, the overall satisfaction level seems low in the community.

Most of the water supply schemes are administered by the community. The PHED has constructed, to date, 52 schemes, out of which 48 are functional. Out of the functional schemes 42 have been handed over to the community for operation and maintenance. The water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department supply water in two ways; through house connections or commercial connections and through community tanks. House connections are given in the towns of Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh. In case of house connection a monthly flat rate of 30 rupees per connection is charged while 250 rupees per month are charged from commercial consumers. In case of water supply through community tanks no water charges are levied. In case the schemes are being operated by community, the water management Association fixes the tariff and levies water charges from consumers. The community arranges for operation and minor repairs costing less than 10 thousand rupees. The major repair (more than 10 thousand rupees) is arranged by the Public Health Engineering Department.

The quality of ground water in Killa Saifullah is good. A total of 57 test wells were drilled in Killa Saifullah district up to mid 1993 by the WAPDA, the Power and Irrigation Department, and the Balochistan Development Authority to examine the quality of water. An area of about 13,851 square kilometres in Killa Saifullah-Zhob districts was surveyed by the Hydrogeology Project of the WAPDA to assess the available ground water potential and its approximate extraction. It was reported that in the Zhob river basin there is a potential of 125 cusecs of ground water out of which only 40 cusecs are being exploited at present. Thus there is about 85 cusecs of ground water which can be exploited.

When looking at the district as a whole, there is no sewerage system, no solid waste management and no cleanliness. The towns of Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh are relatively in a better position, though not satisfactory. Three organisations, the Public Health Engineering Department, the District Council and the Union Councils have a mandate to provide sanitation services to people but none of these is addressing this important issue. The service provided by the Union Councils of Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh are for the town areas and these are also inadequate. These Union Councils have employed sanitation workers who collect the household garbage and dump it outside the towns. The District Council and the Public Health Engineering Department have the excuse of non-availability of funds; resulting in sewerage water flowing in the streets, household garbage being dumped just outside houses, and a very pungent smell is a characteristic of most of the villages in Killa Saifullah district. None of the government or non-government organisations has a plan for a motivational campaign to educate the people about sanitation and environmental pollution.

The Department has established two offices in Killa Saifullah district at Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh which function under the supervision of two separate Sub-divisional Officers (SDOs). However, both offices are supervised by an Executive Engineer (XEN) stationed at Zhob. The Public Health Engineering Department is mainly responsible to construct, operate and maintain water supply schemes; to look after water resources; to provide sewerage and solid waste disposal facilities; and to levy water and sanitation charges. The Department has contracted out collection of revenue in Killa Saifullah town for an amount of 69,200 for the year 1997-98. It is hoped that after handing over all the water supply schemes to the community, the Department will direct its attention to exploitation of more water resources and provision of sanitation services.

The provincial government plays a major role in the provision of water and sanitation services in collaboration with some international donors and local NGOs. The increased participation by the community in operation and maintenance of water supply schemes will not only lessen the burden on the public exchequer but will also ensure better service delivery. The Balochistan Rural Support Programme has helped in construction of irrigation schemes which are mainly meant for irrigation though water is also being used for drinking purposes.

At present about one third (32.4%) of the population has access to drinking water through water supply schemes. If all the schemes, constructed to date, would have been functional, coverage percentage could rise to 40 percent. Non-functional schemes can be made functional by motivating communities to take over schemes. As the majority of the schemes are spring based, operational costs are minimal. The water provided through these schemes is not processed, hence, the quality of the water provided cannot be guaranteed. There should be some mechanism for checking and purification of drinking water.

The sites of hand pumps and water tanks need to be selected while keeping in mind the social -cultural constraints which do not allow women to fetch water from public places. Sanitation needs to be developed and training for women is required for better hygiene conditions.