Patients, attendants face drinking water shortage at CHK

Text and photos by Amar Guriro

Hothal, resident of a village in Thar, came to Karachi for the operation of her daughter’s infected toe. Being a resident of Thar, she was very well aware of the water crisis but had no idea that a ‘big’ hospital like Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) was also suffering from the same conditions, which she had observed in her village since birth.

Hothal is not alone facing difficulties of proper drinking water system at CHK, but an average of 2 million patients coming annually to the hospital for treatments are also suffering from the same situation. More than 5 million attendants coming with their patients also face the same problem. Most of these patients come from other parts of the province and also from Balochistan along with their attendants.

Official records reveal that with 42 departments including pediatrics, general surgery, neuro surgery, cardiac surgery, oncology, radiology, gynae and obstetrics, anesthesia and others and more than 2,000 beds in CHK is the biggest public sector hospital of Sindh. The records also state that annually 2 million patients are treated in this tertiary care public hospital, which was established in 1895.

Despite being such a large hospital there are no arrangements for drinking water for the patients and their attendants. The management had established two huge water tanks in the past to store water, but the hospital management has not installed a single water tap or water cooler in the premises of the hospital for the patients and their attendants.

“We have to go outside for water, but during Ramazan when most of the hotels are closed, it is very difficult to get water,” said Suleman, an attendant of a patient admitted in Ward No 05.

Though, the hospital management did nothing to provide drinking water inside the hospital, but a social welfare organization, Silani Welfare Trust has installed two huge sized tanks with water coolers, but these are not enough for such a large number of patients and their attendants.

“Sometimes these water coolers are so crowded that we have to wait for a long time to get a bottle of water,” said a female attendant outside the gynae and obstetrics ward.

Beside the acute water shortage in the hospital, the centuries’ old pipeline installed inside the hospital is outdated and needs upgradation. A senior employee told this scribe that these several decades’ old pipeline mostly burst and as a result everyone has to suffer for several days. Many people have seized this ripe opportunity to run their business by selling water bottles at higher rates as one can see many people carrying water coolers and selling a glass of water for a rupee.

On contacting the hospital management, it bluntly rejected that there was any water shortage. Medical Superintendent CHK Dr Saeed Qureshi said that there is no shortage of water for patients and their attendants. “Though, there are no separate taps and water coolers for patients, but there is no shortage and Silani Welfare Trust has already installed water coolers, therefore I don’t believe that there is any shortage.”

Though the hospital is very old, but the pipeline is not old and there is no water crisis in the premises, he added.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Daily Times

When pious fast, mashqis starve

Text and photo by Amar Guriro

Yusuf, 55, has prematurely aged under the weight of water. His father wanted him to become a doctor, but fate dealt him a different card: he is a mashqi (water carrier).

Yusuf recalls his childhood when, after his father’s death, his mother, instead of sending him to school, had forced him to be a mashqi to support his family. Since then, he has spent most of his time hand pumping, and his only friends are the other mashqis. When asked for his full name, he sadly replied that the poor do not have a full name.

Despite working his entire life as a mashqi, Yusuf is still unable to make ends meet. During the holy month of Ramazan, when profiteers and hoarders take full advantage by raising prices, mashqis face hardships in earning their livelihood because almost all the hotels, food shops and roadside food stalls remain closed.

A mashqi fills his mashqiza (water container made of leather) at hand pumps located all over the city, and then carries it on his back to supply water to various shops, hotels and roadside stalls. However, mashqis are unable to earn even Rs 100 for daylong labour.

Munawar, a mashqi, told Daily Times that Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) was unable to meet the requirement of supplying sufficient water to the citizens, adding that water tankers or mashqis supply the surplus.

The official data of KWSB states that the total water requirement of Karachi is about 734 million gallons per day (MGD). However, KWSB fails to provide 97 MGD of water, which is then supplied by other sources.

Shahjahan, another mashqi, said, “There is no official mechanism to fulfil the shortfall of water and the mashqis are fulfilling it to some extent, but the government has so far failed to recognise our value.”

The official data of Orangi Pilot project (OPP) states that KWSB has to supply 417.65 MGD of water to different towns, the Clifton Cantonment and DHA areas. However, the data further reveals, KWSB is only able to supply around 293 MGD. According to OPP’s Parveen Rehman, there are around 5,000 tankers in the city that get water from illegal hydrants.

Some reports indicate that the water acquired from hand pumps is highly contaminated. Nevertheless, a large number of people consume it on a regular basis. Karachi Water Partnership (KWP) reports that unsafe water kills at least 20,000 children each year in Karachi and the leading cause of child mortality in the city is diarrhoea, which is the result of water contamination.

However, Muhammad Arif, a mashqi, claims that the water acquired from hand pumps is safe for human consumption. “We have been providing water for several decades and we have never received any complaints about its quality,” he added.

Muhammad Sabir, another mashqi, said that mashqis have been suffering in the blessed month of Ramazan because water consumption has reduced due to fasting, adding that the government must announce a special Ramazan package for them so they could feed their family.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Daily Times

Water project provides great relief to people of drought-hit Thar

Text and photo by Amar Guriro

Since last year, social workers were busy digging ponds in the small Taluka village of Diplo, Dedsarh, but little did they know that the ponds would soon turn into pools of happiness for the villagers.

During the second shower of the monsoon, the ponds dug by the socials workers were filled with sweet water, which would be enough for the 700 residents of the village for an entire year.

“It is a miracle to find such a huge quantity of fresh water at our doorstep,” said Habibullah alias Hakim Chaaro, who is a resident of Dedsarh.

The village that comprises of about 100 households of Chara, Mandhra, Meghwar and Kolhi, is located 40 kilometres south of Mithi between the sand dunes in the vast Thar Desert.

For many centuries now, the residents were obtaining water from wells, which was brackish.

A few years ago, their wells dried up and they had to walk almost three kilometers to get water from the nearest village, Bitanee.

Sadly, even the water there was not fit for human consumption.

Last year, the Sukaarr Foundation Trust (SFT), a local non-governmental organisation working on water, sanitation and hygiene, announced that they would establish covered underground rainwater harvesting tanks in collaboration with WaterAid Pakistan and its partner Orangi Pilot Project.

The announcements were a source of hope for the villagers, as they only had one taraai (natural pond) to collect rainwater, but the fact that the taraai's floor was not cemented and the evaporation due to the intense heat would greatly reduce the volume of water collected, in turn creating a premature shortage of water.

“We started the rainwater harvesting plant project in the village at a low cost, during which we built seven small size roof covered ponds. A small pond can store up to 30,000 litres of rainwater, a medium sized chuwnra pond can store up to 60,000 litres of rainwater and the huge cylindrical model of the large pond has the capacity to store one million litres of rainwater,” said SFT Executive Director Ashok Suthar.

He said that the project was started on a pilot basis and that if it is successful then SFT, in collaboration with the community and the local government, will replicate the project in other villages of Tharparkar to overcome the water scarcity problem.

When this scribe visited the village after the monsoon rain, almost every villager was smiling and they were all eager to show the scribe the ponds. “I have never seen so much fresh water in my entire life,” said 42-year-old primary school teacher Muhammad Chaaro.

“Seepage and evaporation of water are the major problems in Thar, although every year it rains heavily but as there are no proper means of storing water, most of it is lost. We have put a geo-membrane in the ponds to stop the seepage and have covered them with roofs to slow the evaporation process,” said Suthar.

“To ensure a fair distribution of water, we have set up separate hand pumps for every community in the village,” said SFT's Lekhraj, adding that the huge pond is filled up to capacity and the water will last for the next nine months. Due to the acute water shortage in Thar Desert, people also refer to it as the thirst and during the drought tens of thousand people leave Thar to go to the barrage areas of Sindh in search of livelihood. When Tharis leave for the barrage areas, their families, especially their wives suffer a lot. Interestingly, all the folk stories, music, songs, dance and culture are based on this migration.

According to the study conducted by Pakistan Council for Research on Water Resources, Thar Desert receives 1 trillion litres of rain annually, but due to the absence of proper water storage facilities, the water is lost. The Tharis usually use small tanks or tankos as they call it, to collect rainwater. The concept was basically born in Rajasthan, India and became popular among the people of the Thar area of Sindh.

Whether it is a tanko or a taraai, the problem remains the same, the seepage and evaporation, which finishes the water long before its time. After the SFT pilot project's completion, the villagers are now able to store 12.70 million litres of rainwater, which according to villagers is sufficient for one year. Last year the government allocated a sum of Rs 1 billion for the rehabilitation of drought affected areas of Thar, but nothing has been done so far. Local people say that if the government establishes projects, such as the SFT pilot project, in all of Thar, it will be no less than a revolution for the Tharis.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Daily Times

Malir water supply scheme inaugurated

By Amar Guriro 

The water supply scheme and water reservoir in Malir Town was inaugurated here on Tuesday evening.

The CDGK project, worth Rs 110 million, consists of a 26-km long 36-inch diameter pipeline from Pipri Filter Plant to Saudabad Pumping Station. The water scheme would provide to 10 million gallons of water daily to the residents of Malir Town. The entire project would be complete and functional within two months.

On the occasion, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal said Malir Town is the only town in city that has been provided a water project that supplies 10 million gallons of water daily, while others have a maximum 6 million gallons capacity.

Speaking about further improvement plans for Malir Town, Kamal said the CDGK plans to establish at least three loops of the Elevated Expressway down to Malir Town. A road built with a cost of Rs 2.5 billion has already been constructed that connects Malir Town to the Toll Plaza and to the rest of the city within minutes, he said.

Kamal lauded the efforts of the Haq Parast leadership to resolve the basic issues of the people of Karachi such as water shortage. He said the Haq Parast leadership has served the people of the city without considering their creed, colour, ethnic, political or religious affiliations.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Daily Times

Rain means happiness in Thar Desert

Text and photos by Amar Guriro



Even though the recent rains caused the capital city of Sindh to float, it was welcomed with open arms in the different areas of Thar.
The recent showers graced the land of the Tharis after a severe drought, which stretched over two years, and brought with it a new ray of hope.
Following the rains, almost all the tobaas or taraais (natural ponds) have filled up with rainwater. These taraais are used as the main water supply for both, human and animal consumption.
The Tharis as an alternate use underground water sources, such as wells and hand pumps, for water that is brackish and highly contaminated with minerals, including fluoride, chloride and other salts. During the drought, almost 50 percent of the total Thari population migrated, with their cattle, to the barrage areas in search of water and livelihood; they are now returning home. After the rains in Umerkot, Mithi, Chhachhro, Nangarparkar and other areas, the Thari farmers have started ploughing their lands so that they can sow traditional crops, such as Bajra (millet), Guwar, Til and pulses.
Thar, Pakistan’s largest and Asia’s third largest desert spread over 200,000 square kilometers, out of which a major portion is in India, usually suffers from an acute water shortage. Although, Thar is rich in culture, traditions, heritage, folk tales, costumes, dances and music, but the continuous water shortage makes thousands of people leave their native land and became internally displaced persons. What is surprising is the government’s ability to turn a blind eye towards this mass migration that occurs every year. When this scribe started travelling from Umerkot to Mithi through Kantio, the scene that welcomed him was priceless. Many a times he saw people of all ages, busy plowing their lands, using animals such as camels and donkeys. He saw women attired in traditional colorful Thari dresses, carrying earthen urns walking between the sand dunes while shepherds happily tended to their sheep while they sang the traditional folk song for rain, the Hamercho.
These scribe also had the chance to meet Hamtho Bheel, a resident of a small desert village, Bharmalio, located in the outskirts of Umerkot. He was busy tending to his fields. “Rain is God’s blessing for mankind and we are really very happy,” he said.
Near Mithi this scribe met Sono Kolhi. “Most of the people say Tharis are crazy about rain, I want them to come to my village and see exactly what the situation is like and then they will realise how much the rains mean to us,” he said. He has ploughed his land for millet and said that he wants another downpour as crops in Thar Desert only grow if there is rainwater. He raised his hands to the sky and prayed for more rain as this scribe looked on in awe.
Momal, a young girl belonging to a small village near Kantio, could not contain her excitement as she declared, “Now we can finally collect sweet water from the taraasi and stop drinking the horrible brackish water that we have been consuming for the last two years.” She sheepishly added, “In our dictionary, rain means happiness.” Sadly, this jubilation is short lived, as after a few months of relief due to the rainwater, the drought will return to Thar to torment the people there and once again, they will be forced to consume water that we may not even use to wash our hands. Even more fascinating is the fact that during the last few years, many welfare institutions including USA Aid, UNDP, UNICEF and some local organisations such as Thar Deep have been working in the area but none of them have been able to think of permanent solutions to the yearly sufferings of the Tharis.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Daily Times