Paucity of Funds - Water sample collection work comes to a halt

MN Report

KARACHI - At a time when the lethal Naegleria fowleri, also known as ‘brain-eating’ amoeba, had already claimed 12 lives in Sindh this year – 10 in Karachi and one each in Umerkot and Thatta – the work of a six-member committee constituted to check whether water being supplied to the city is chlorinated has virtually come to a halt due to financial constraints.

According to sources, funds required for fuel for the vehicles given at the disposal of the committee for visiting different localities of the city to collect water samples and other essential works have not been released by the health department, thereby creating mobility problems for the committee members.  

The committee, it may be recalled, was formed by Sindh health department after first death, caused by the Naegleria fowleri, was reported in the city and it was assigned the task of collecting water samples from different parts of the city to check whether water being supplied to the citizens was chlorinated or not.

The committee had earlier collected innumerable number of water samples from various localities of the metropolis. Analysis of those samples had indicated that water being supplied to more than half of the city contained less than prescribed level of chlorine.

Moreover, the teams of the committee had even found that water being supplied to the city from around 90 per cent pumping stations of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) was not chlorinated.