Water Supply Quetta

Drinking Water

Water is a basic need, essential for human survival. Water is supplied through different sources: tube wells, hand pumps, wells, karezes and springs. Tube wells by far have become the major source of water supply, using P.V.C. pipes. These have an advantage over iron pipes. The Public Heath Engineering Department (P.H.E.D) is using them for distribution of water in rural areas of district Quetta. According to the estimates provided by P.H.E.D authorities, 75 - 80% of the rural population has been provided with piped drinking water facilities. These facilities have been provided at 72 densely populated areas in the district. All the schemes run by P.H.E.D are piped schemes or tank schemes. In the case of piped schemes, the number of beneficiaries is 75 - 80% of the total rural population. The other way of providing water is through tanks: In this case, from the source of water supply, water is transported through pipes and stored in a tank from which the members of community get water.

A water storage dam near Quetta valley.

According to PHED, 75 - 80% of the total population in the rural area of the district has access to potable water supplied by P.H.E.D. While 20 - 25% of the population is getting water from other sources for which information is not available. Out of the 72 PHED water schemes, 18 have been handed over to the community. Seven schemes are non-functional, while 33 schemes are run by PHED. The situation in the district is given in the following table.

Water Supply by Different Departments in District Quetta

Source: interviews with the concerned authorities

Drinking Water Supply Administration

It is evident from the above table that the management and water supply is the responsibility of WASA, PHED, QDA, Pakistan Railway, Cantonment Board, MES, Post Office and T&T Department. Quetta is the most populous city of Balochistan. According

to the estimates provided by NIPS (1995), the total population is more than 677,000; with more than 3/4^th living in urban areas. PHED is providing drinking water facilities to

Hana Lake near Quetta.

rural areas. The number of tube wells administered by the Department is 72, at different locations, with 38 of them run by the Department. Some 25% of the schemes have been handed over to the community. Seven schemes are non-functional, 3are disputed, 2 have been completed but have not yet been taken by the community.

In the urban areas of Quetta district, Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) has 87 tube wells, 7 of them are non-functional. According to the authorities, they are supplying water to 90% of the city population. The number of registered connections is 43,500, of which 15 to 20% are commercial connections. It is also worth mentioning that WASA has an agreement with the MES authorities to provide WASA with 1 million gallon of water daily. However, at the moment the Army is providing only 200,000 gallons of water daily.

The Quetta Development Authority (QDA) is running 8 tube wells and providing water to those housing schemes which come under its jurisdiction (e.g. Smungli, Chaman and Chiltan Housing Schemes). The number of water connections provided by them is 700, of which 41 are commercial connections.

The Military Engineering Service (MES) have 22 tube wells, 17 of which are functional, they provide water mainly to the Army personnel residing in Cantonment area. MES receives water from Urak daily. This water is stored, cleaned and then distributed to the Military personnel in Quetta Cantonment. The Cantonment Board also provides water to the civilian residents. The number of tube wells run by them is seven and the number of connections is 689. They mostly provide water to housing schemes (e.g. Jinnah, Toghi, Shahbaz). They also supply water through their tanks to the citizens.

In addition to the above mentioned institutions, Pakistan Railway is also running 20 tube wells, out of them 12 are functioning. The water is supplied to all the railway colonies. Post office, Telegraph and Telecommunication department, have their own tube wells, providing water to 250 connections in Postal Colony, Quetta. It is worth mentioning that the first tube well in Quetta was installed in 1891 by the Railway and is still functioning.

In all the cases the consumers who wish to get benefit from a PHED scheme (rural areas) have to pay the cost of connection into their houses from the main connection. For those schemes which have been handed over to the community, operation and maintenance is the responsibility of the community. However, in case of major problems, PHED is responsible.

The following constraints have been pointed out by the community, regarding PHED schemes:

1. Excessive billing: bills, particularly the first come after a very long period
2. Some of the beneficiaries were not prepared to pay their share in the utility bills.
3. Some times the community as a whole refuses to pay. This is due to lack of social responsibility and also due to the presence of certain vested interest group within the community.

There have been many cases of illegal connections in the District. Women are not involved in the administration of drinking water supplies. Although the costs of water supply may be considerable, the benefits are higher:

1. Better health conditions due to disease-free water, hence prevention from certain epidemic diseases
2. Saving in time (for fetching water)
3. More convenience for women and children.

Local government is not involved in the management of water supply.

Ground Water Sub-Sector

In district Quetta, the quality of ground water varies from place to place. In most of the places water is of good quality while in Balali, Mehtarzai, Samalani and Mallahzai the quality of water is very poor (saline / brackish) and not potable. The chemical quality of water can be established by chemical analysis. The World Health Organisation (W.H.O) have set some standard parameters such as the quantity of calcium, magnesium, sodium sulphate and nitrate etc., to differentiate potable water from non-potable. According to the P.H.E.D authorities, the water found in most of the rural areas entirely satisfies the criteria laid down by W.H.O. Water provided by MES is filtered and chlorinated.

Rain water in Hana valley.

There have been some studies indicating that there is potential for exploiting water in the district valley, but due to very low water table it will be very expensive to utilize that water in future. The underground potential needs to be charged and this could be done through construction of Delay Action Dams.

Sanitation

The hygienic and sanitation conditions prevalent in the district are not satisfactory. There are a host of reasons for this situation. The city has grown without proper planning, therefore it lacks adequate sewerage systems. This is evident after heavy rainfall in Quetta city, particularly at Zarghoon Road, Prince Road, Meconghy Road and Liaquat Bazar. Due to lack of education, social and civic responsibilities, the general cleanliness situation is poor. The existing facilities of toilet and drainage are quite inadequate. There is no data available to show the waste disposal method of different households. However, it has been observed that a growing number of households in the town have linked their flush system with septic tanks. New housing schemes are all having flush systems. This has been observed mainly in Jinnah, Shahbaz, Smungli and Chaman Housing Schemes. However, the waste water from most houses is disposed of through open drainage systems and then it moves outside the main town through Habib Nallah into Quetta Lora.

The Quetta Municipal Corporation, Cantonment Board and WASA are involved in the disposal of waste and in the provision of sanitation facilities in District Quetta.

The QMC plays a dominant role in providing and managing sanitation facilities in Quetta city. Solid waste is disposed of through the following mechanism: Garbage is collected at house hold level - then it is brought to dustbins which are emptied into a truck or tractor by Municipal employees. There are 1000 permanent employees with 22 trucks and 3 tractors. The collected garbage and solid waste is dumped into trenching rooms 16 Km away from Quetta. Then after 3 months it is auctioned.

In the Cantonment areas, the responsibility for sanitation lies with the authorities of the Cantonment Board Quetta. There are 190 permanent workers (65% are male and 35% female). They have trucks to carry garbage into the dumping ground which is 8 Km away at Kach Road. It is worth mentioning that in the Cantonment area the use of flush systems is almost 100%. Therefore, the severity of the sanitation problem here is limited and sanitation is not a big problem.

It is worth mentioning that scavengers (garbage collectors) have played a vital role in sanitation. They sort out the waste material and pick useful things. Would they not be involved in the sanitation process, the city might have portrayed a different picture. The recycling industry is functioning due to them.

However, the rural areas and slums in Quetta district present a different picture. The sanitation here is very poor. There is no drainage system at all. There is no proper method of disposing of solid waste. The rural sanitation system is inadequate and defective and a constant threat to the health of the people.

The hygienic conditions are even worse in the rural areas of district Quetta. The streets are unpaved and have no drains at all. Waste water remains stagnant outside the houses, giving rise to flies and mosquitoes, creating health hazards. The PHED is not yet involved in sanitation.

Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department

The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) was created in 1987. The main objective of this Department was to plan, implement and manage water supply schemes throughout Balochistan, excluding Quetta City. Among other objectives it was planned to provide piped water in sufficient quantities to the households, for domestic use. It also planned to improve the sewerage system and sanitary conditions. PHED is not yet involved in sanitation works in Quetta city. The organigramme of Public Health Engineering Department is given below.

Public Health Engineering Department Organigramme

XEN: Executive Engineer

SDO: Sub-Division Officer

S/E : Sub-Engineer

GO/NGO/Private Enterprise, etc. involvement in Water Development

In water development, particularly in the coverage of water services in rural areas PHE is actively involved. Federal government and NGOs have not been involved in sanitation or water development. Private enterprise and international donors are involved to some extent in the above mentioned activities.

Conclusion and major Development Issues

Major Conclusions in the area of Water & Sanitation are:

1. Government has made tremendous efforts in providing piped safe drinking water facilities, specially in the rural areas of the district. However, 100% coverage is still not realized.
2. It is unfortunate that the beneficiaries of PHED schemes, in some cases are not paying utility bills. A similar situation is faced by WASA.
3. The hygienic conditions in the district are very poor, there is no proper drainage system. Even the drainage system of Quetta city is an example of bad planning.
4. The major problem in the development of water has been noticed as the political interference particularly in rural areas. Water supply schemes are sanctioned on political grounds rather than on real needs.
5. Illegal water connections have created both hygienic and financial problems for the PHED and WASA.
6. Water is becoming scarcer because every year the water table is dropping further.
7. There is an acute shortage of water in Quetta City. Underground water will not be sufficient to tackle the problem. Quetta could turn into a ghost city if the present situation continues or if no additional sources of water are found.

The consequences of the dropping water table for those who fetch water could be:

- More time will be needed to bring water from distant areas

- It will further burden the life of females, who fetch water

- It will badly affect the ecological balance and agricultural development in the district.

- Sanitation conditions are very poor despite the fact that QMC and Cantonment Board authorities are trying their best to improve the hygienic condition. However, their capacity is limited. They are able to dispose of only 75% of solid waste. What is needed is the involvement of the private sector on commercial basis and community participation through awareness programmes.

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