Being a coastal area, only at few places of Gwadar district ground water is potable. In the past, Gwadar district has faced severe drinking water crises. In 1981, only one third of the housing units had a house connection. Around 40 percent housing units obtained drinking water from open surface wells and about 13 percent from streams, rivers, and springs. In the past the Irrigation Department used to look after drinking water supply systems as well; in the mid-80’s the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has been made responsible. In 1991, there were only 33 open surface wells of which 11 were being used for drinking water supply. After the construction of Akra Kaur Dam and Saji Dam this problem has been solved to a great extent. The PHED has 26 constructed water supply schemes and drinking water is supplied through overhead and community tanks. Only one of these schemes is a gravity flow scheme based upon a spring while for the remaining schemes water is obtained from dams, rivers, and tubewells. According to the Public Health Engineering statistics, currently 96 percent of the population (160,980) has access to safe drinking water through these schemes. However it is estimated that the remaining (4%) of the population gets illegal connection from these schemes to acquire safe drinking water.

In Nalaint, no water supply has been developed. The Public Health Engineering Department has plans to a construct water supply scheme there. At present 6 water supply schemes are under construction while 6 schemes have been proposed for funding.

The entire population in Gwadar district is supplied drinking water through water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department. In case of overhead tank or direct pumping, water is supplied through a house connection and a monthly flat water rate is charged to the consumers. Most of the schemes are provided with community tanks from where children and adults fetch water. 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 of other sources, because male family members do this job. Usually people live near the water source.

All of the water supply schemes constructed by the Public Health Engineering Department are functional. The World Bank has asked the government to hand over all the water supply schemes to the community. However it may not be possible for those water supply schemes in Gwadar district which are based upon dams. On the other hand, people are not eager to operate the schemes by themselves. The people argue that they are being asked to run the schemes by themselves while water supply schemes in other provinces of Pakistan are being funded by the government. Sometimes water provided for household use is illegally used for horticultural irrigation which deprives many consumers of their right to get drinking water.

The water supplied through schemes is filtered prior to supply. All community tanks are lined and water pipelines are laid one metre below surface to avoid breakage and consequent water contamination. At present all the schemes, except 2 in Pasni, are diesel operated, therefore operational costs are high.

Desalination of sea water is a way to get drinking water. Pakistan Navy has constructed one such plant at Gwadar. Sea water is pumped into the small panes which are covered with transparent sheets of vinyl plastic. The water evaporates and vapours are condensed on vinyl plastic sheets from where water is collected in under-ground water tank through small ducts. This water is utilised by the Pakistan Navy Personnel only.

All of the water supply schemes, except one, are administered by the Public Health Engineering Department. The department has constructed, to date, 26 schemes all of which are functional. Out of these schemes one has 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. In case of house connection a monthly flat rate of 30 rupees per connection is charged while 250 rupees per month are charged to commercial consumers. In case of water supply through community tanks no water charges are levied. The overall revenue realisation is 60 percent. Meters were installed in the urban area but the idea did not work. Then a flat rate of 50 rupees per month per connection was approved, which afterwards was reduced to rupees 30 per month per connection on July 14, 1992. The department has contracted out the collection of water charges in Gwadar town for rupees 1,069,520 (at the rate of Rs. 18.00 per connection) for the year 1997. The only scheme being operated by the community is based on a spring and water is provided through a community tank, therefore, no fees are received from consumers. In a major part of the district it may be difficult to hand over the water supply schemes to the community because most of them have a common water source, i.e., dam.

At present water for most of the schemes is provided from Akra Kaur Dam, Saji Dam, and other small dams on Dasht river and Shadi kaur. Akra Kaur Dam was handed over to the Public Health Engineering Department in July 1996. It provides 80 percent of the drinking water in Gwadar sub-division (Gwadar town and 10 other villages). This dam has the capacity to store water for three years’ needs of the area. Three treatment plants have been constructed at the dam site. Each of them has a capacity to filter about 1.364 million litres of water per day. Water is pumped to the water supply schemes by 3 pumping stations which work continuously for 23 hours a day. The 1996-97 operations and maintenance budget for Akra Kaur Dam has been approved but has not been released yet.

In Gwadar district, the quality of drinking water supplied through water supply schemes is good. In some areas, water is obtained from open surface wells. The taste of ground water is slightly brackish and it is not suitable for drinking. In the late 70’s WAPDA Hydro-geology Department has drilled test boreholes in the whole province, including Gwadar District. Five test wells were drilled in Gwadar and Pasni unto mid 1993 by the Public Health Engineering Department to examine the quality of water.

In Gwadar town, overall sanitation is poor. There is a sewerage and drainage system and solid waste management through dumping it outside the town; but the town does not look clean. Same is the situation in Pasni. Other towns of the district do not have such facilities therefore sanitation is really poor there. The Public Health Engineering Department has a mandate to provide sanitation services to people but except for providing drinking water to the public, PHED did nothing in terms of sanitation. The municipal and town committees try to address this important issue according to their resources but these efforts are not enough. The services provided by these local councils are only for major towns and even there they are inadequate. The household garbage is dumped on the sea side and sometimes burned there. This not only pollute the air but also pose danger to marine life near the coast. Sewerage water usually flows in the streets, household garbage is dumped just outside the houses, and a very pungent smell is a characteristic of most of the towns and villages. None of the government or non-government organisations has a plan for a motivational campaign to educate the people.

Up to 1995 UNICEF, through Balochistan Integrated Area Development Programme (BIAD) has constructed household latrines in few villages of Gwadar sub-division. Material support has been given to Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD) to construct 200 flush system latrines by its Water and Sanitation Cell through out the district. These latrines were mainly constructed at public places in Gwadar town, rather than in villages and therefore are of little use. However people are adopting these latrines in houses.

The department is headed by an Executive Engineer at the district level. 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. In Gwadar, the Public Health Engineering Department is sub-divided in 3 sub-divisions, Gwadar, Ormara, and Pasni headed by the respective Sub-divisional Officer (SDO). In 1995-96, recurrent budget of the department was 11,370,255 rupees while no development budget was released to the department. The operation and maintenance budget in 1995-96 was 14,885,707 rupees.

The provincial government plays a major role in provision of water and sanitation services in collaboration with some international donors and local NGOs. The increased participation by the community in operation and management of water supply schemes will not only lessen the burden on the public exchequer but will also ensure better service delivery.

Drinking water has been a problem for the people in Gwadar, but now 96 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water through water supply schemes. The provision of electricity for operation of water supply schemes can cut down the operational cost. There have been some complaints of irregular water supply through the Public Health Engineering Department’s schemes. This complaint can be addressed by involvement of beneficiary communities in the operation and routine maintenance and ensuring efficient operation and supervision of these schemes.

The population coverage (96%) seems unrealistic keeping in view unavailability of water in Nalaint area and illegal connections. For appropriate and efficient planning correct data is a prerequisite. Therefore a realistic estimate of population covered is necessary.

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