In Kohlu, drinking water is obtained from open surface wells, tubewells and even from brooks. The Public Health Engineering Department has constructed 35 water supply schemes – of which 10 are not functional – through which drinking water has become available through overhead and community tanks. Tubewells are used to obtain water for 9 schemes while 18 schemes are based upon open surface wells. Seven schemes are spring based and one is on gravity flow. According to the PHED statistics, 18.4 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water through the functional schemes.

About one-fifth (18.4%) of the population is being provided drinking water through 25 functional water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department. Water is supplied through house connections, community tanks and stand pots. A monthly flat water fee has been imposed on consumers with house connections, but only a few pay. A connection fee is charged without which a connection is not given. Mostly, community tanks are used to provide drinking water from where children and adults fetch water. The remaining population obtain water from open surface wells, rivulets and springs.

In collaboration with UNICEF, the Water and Sanitation Section of Local Government and Rural Development Department has installed 50 deep well hand pumps throughout the district which has made the fetching of water a more easy task. Basically these hand pumps are installed on already existing open surface wells. Therefore the number of water sources has not increased. Women and children fetch water for domestic use and sometimes they use donkeys and small trolleys if they have to bring the water from a distant source. Usually people live near the water source.

To date, the Public Health Engineering Department has constructed 35 water supply scheme out of which 10 are not functioning. Eight of such schemes were damaged by heavy flood while the remaining 2 are not functioning due to mechanical disorders. In most cases, people do not seem to be eager to operate the schemes themselves. They do not understand why they are asked to run the schemes themselves, while some other schemes are funded by the government. However, to date 2 schemes have been handed over to the community and both of them are functioning properly.

Water supplied through PHED schemes is neither chlorinated nor treated in some other way. However, all community tanks are lined and water pipelines are laid one metre below the surface to avoid breakage and consequent water contamination. Although water supply schemes have facilitated people with the provision of drinking water, the overall satisfaction level in the community seems to be low.

Most (33) of the water supply schemes are administered by the Public Health Engineering Department. Out of the functional schemes 2 have been handed over to the community for operation and management.

The water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department supply water in three ways: through house connections or commercial connections, through community tanks and through stand posts. A monthly flat rate of rupees 30 per house connection and rupees 250 per commercial connection is charged, but only a few pay. At present a total of 560 water connections have been given to the consumers in the district. In case of water supply through community tanks and stand posts no water charges are levied. In case the schemes are being operated by the community, the Water Management Association fixes the tariff and levies for water. The community arranges operation and repairs costing less than 10 thousand rupees. Major repairs (more than 10 thousand rupees) are taken care of by the Public Health Engineering Department.

The overall quality of drinking water in Kohlu is good. Usually the water table is at 20-35 meter below surface. To date no study has been conducted to assess ground water potential in Kohlu district. The Irrigation and Power Department has drilled 9 and the WAPDA has drilled 11 test wells in Kohlu district to examine the quality of water.

In Kohlu district, sanitation is very poor. There is no sewerage system and no solid waste management. Three organisations, the Public Health Engineering Department, the district council and the union councils, have the task to provide sanitation services to people, but none of them is addressing this important issue. They all have an excuse of non-availability of funds. The result is that sewerage water flows in the streets and household garbage is dumped just outside houses. None of the government or non-government organisations has a plan for a motivational campaign to educate the people.

The Water and Sanitation Section of LG&RDD has provided 100 household latrines in the district out of which 95 have been installed. This initiative can motivate more people to follow this practice. In this way the problem of sanitation will be solved to some extent and gastrointestinal diseases could be avoided.

The Public Health Engineering Department is mainly responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of water supply schemes; to look after water resources; to provide sewerage and solid waste disposal facilities; and to levy water and sanitation charges. The whole of Kohlu district is a division of the Public Health Engineering Department, headed by an Executive Engineer (XEN). The Division is further divided into three sections: Kohlu, Kahan and Mawand. Total strength of the PHED is 173 employees. In 1995-96, the recurrent budget of the Department was rupees 7,337,388 and no development budget was released to the Department. It is hoped that after handing over water supply schemes to the community, the Department will direct its attention to the exploitation of more water resources and sanitation services.

The provincial government plays a major role in the provision of drinking water in collaboration with some international donors. Increased participation of communities in the operation and management of water supply schemes will not only lessen the burden on the public exchequer, but will also ensure better service delivery.

With only one-fifth (18.4%) of the population having access to safe drinking water, Kohlu district is facing a severe water and sanitation problem. If all the schemes constructed to date would be functional, the coverage percentage would approximately be twice the present one. Non-functioning schemes can be put in operation again by motivating communities to take over these schemes. The provision of electricity for operation of water supply schemes can cut down the operational costs and, consequently, can increase the population coverage.

The concern of women’s labour in fetching water should be taken into account at the planning stage. The location of hand-pumps and water tanks should be more accessible for them.