Water and Pakistan

The idea that water is fit to drink or drinkable is not one that most of us routinely think about. The only types of water we distinguish are tap, spring, mineral, flavoured, or carbonated. The only time we may have had to distinguish between potable and non-potable water is on a camping trip or some other outdoor adventure. But the sad fact is that most of the people on this planet do not have access to water that is fit to drink. That begs the question: what do they drink then? The obvious answer is they drink whatever water they can get their hands on.

According to a report by the Leadership for Environment and Development, by the year 2025, 52 nations comprising half the world's population, will have a severe shortage of potable water. In the next 25 years, some 3 billion people will be facing water shortages.

In Pakistan, the vast majority of the country's 135 million inhabitants do not have access to drinkable water. Pakistan's attempt to raise the living standards of its citizens has meant that economic development has largely taken precedence over environmental issues. Unchecked use of hazardous chemicals, vehicle emissions, and industrial activity has contributed to a number of environmental and health hazards, chief among them being water pollution. Much of the country suffers from a lack of potable water due to industrial waste and agricultural runoff that contaminates drinking water supplies.

Poverty and high population growth have aggravated, and to a certain extent, caused, these environmental problems. This means that most people are forced to use unclean water not only for all their sanitation needs, farming, and livestock but for drinking as well.

For much of the population, often there is only one water source. It may be a nearby river or pond, maybe rain water from a catch basin or a creek. Typically, the water source is used by both humans and animals. People use it for bathing, washing up, doing laundry, collecting for cooking, and drinking. Needless to say, the water is anything but clean.

Drinking water that is unsafe can, and usually does, lead to all sorts of health-related problems such as dysentery which is severe, prolonged diarrhea with bloody stools, fever, and weakness; cholera and typhoid; flukes -- stagnant, polluted water, especially in tropical areas, often contains blood flukes. If you swallow flukes, they will bore into the bloodstream, live as parasites, and cause disease; and leeches. If you swallow a leech, it can hook onto the throat passage or inside the nose. It will suck blood, create a wound, and move to another area. Each bleeding wound may become infected.
Pakistan is currently in the midst of what some are saying is the worst water crisis the country has ever seen. The drought affecting the region threatens agricultural output, and levels in the country's reservoirs are dangerously low.

The lack of water is taking on political overtones with parties organizing protests over the issue. One-day strikes have been called in Karachi to protest water shortages in the province of Sindh. The protests have been met with harsh responses from local authorities.

While drought and pollution play a significant role in the lack of safe drinking water, some critics maintain that a large part of the problem is a result of poor management. By some estimates, as much as 60% of Pakistan's fresh water is allowed to go wasted, flowing back into the sea. Only 40% of the water is used.

It is imperative that Pakistan seeks out new and cheaper ways to provide safe drinking water for its people. Some experts have looked at inexpensive desalination techniques, ones that could be employed on a mass scale. To be sure, this precious commodity, the very lifeblood of humans, is getting scarcer and scarcer everyday.

Drinking water guidelines

Safe drinking water is everybody's business. Managing drinking water supplies properly, from the source water to the consumer's tap, takes a great deal of knowledge and coordination among multiple stakeholders--from governments and businesses, to individuals like you and me.

A shared responsibility

In Canada, the responsibility for making sure drinking water supplies are safe is shared between the provincial, territorial, federal and municipal governments. The day-to-day responsibility of providing safe drinking water to the public generally rests with the provinces and territories, while municipalities usually oversee the day to day operations of the treatment facilities.

Health Canada's Water Quality and Health Bureau plays a leadership role in science and research. Its mandate and expertise lies in protecting the health of all Canadians by developing the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality in partnership with the provinces and territories. These guidelines are used by every jurisdiction in Canada and are the basis for establishing drinking water quality requirements for all Canadians.

Health Canada is recognized as a World Health Organisation/Pan American Health Organisation (WHO/PAHO) Collaborating Centre for Water Quality, and participates in the development of  WHO guidelines for drinking water. The Bureau also works closely and shares information with other government agencies such as the  United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The multi-barrier approach

The best way to make sure drinking water supplies are kept clean, safe and reliable is to take a preventive risk management approach. This means understanding each water supply from its beginning in nature to where it reaches you, the consumer. This understanding--about the water's characteristics, the ways it could become contaminated, and the type of treatment it needs--comes from collecting and studying data.

The drinking water supply can be broken down into three parts: the source water, the drinking water treatment system, and the distribution system which carries the treated water to homes, businesses, schools, and other buildings. The plumbing inside your home is an extension of the distribution system.

As drinking water travels on its journey to you, it can become contaminated in many ways. The multi-barrier approach to managing drinking water supplies is a preventive risk management approach that identifies all known and potential hazards and makes sure barriers are in place to reduce or eliminate the risk of contamination.

Drinking water guidelines

In order to know whether their drinking water management program is working, drinking water authorities need to have benchmarks for water quality. These benchmarks come in the form of drinking water guidelines. Guidelines make it possible for drinking water to be tested at various points along its journey and analysed to determine whether it is safe to drink. The Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality are established by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water and published by Health Canada.

The guidelines for some contaminants, like E.coli which indicates the presence of microbiological pathogens, are very clear and should never be exceeded because people will become sick soon after drinking contaminated water. Others, like many of the chemical guidelines, are based on the best available science and give a good indication of health effects that might be seen in some people if we consume high amounts of the chemical in drinking water over a period of decades.

Products and materials that come into contact with drinking water

Another way that drinking water can become contaminated is by the products and materials with which it comes into contact. Water is a solvent and can leach metals and other chemicals from pipes, fittings, fixtures, and other products. Health Canada works with national and international standards-setting organizations to develop health-based performance standards for these products and materials to make sure they are not contributing harmful contaminants to your drinking water.

Herbal Drinking Water

If you are someone who keeps track of new herbal products  then you might not have forgotten the successful launch of Laboob Sager- the herbal Viagra, by Tamil Nadu Medicinal Plant Farms and Herbal Medicines Corporation Ltd. (TAMPCOL). Now this state-owned corporation of Tamil Nadu government is set to launch its all new herbal product- Herbal Drinking Water. The corporation claims it to be first of its kind in the country.

Herbal water is already manufactured and marketed in the US by infusing organic culinary herbs in pure water. This  water doesn't contain artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or additives of any other kind. They are made refreshing, aromatic drink by granting flavours such as those of lavender, mint, cinnamon, lemongrass, vanilla, ginger, cloves, cardamom etc.

Herbal drinking water, developed by TAMPCOL contains herbal extracts along with useful bio-active properties that play a major role in maintaining good health as evidenced by Siddha and original scriptures of Ayurveda as well as modern scientific theories.

This herbal water will be sold in 1,000 ml and 500 ml pet bottles and competitively priced in the growing mineral water market. According to G A Rajkumar, the Chairman and Managing Director, TAMPCOL, the new water is set to be launched in the next two months after getting the ISI certificate and other related licenses.

What remains to be seen is that whether the corporation will follow suit of other nation and make its herbal drinking water flavored or not? Flavored or not, the healthy herbal water is surely a thing to wait for!

Filters vs. Purifiers

Filters vs. Purifiers

Filters work by forcing water through material of a certain pore size which screens contaminants. These are fine for backcountry use in the U.S. and Canada since Giardia is the main contaminant here. (Giardia screening requires a pore size of two microns.) Developing countries, however, may have waterborne viruses, such as hepatitis and polio, which are 0.04 microns or smaller. Thus virus control requires boiling, iodine chemical treatment, or a purifying filter.

The PUR filters listed below, as well as the Sweetwater Guardian with its Viralguard accessory, incorporate iodine matrixes which kill viruses and bacteria without passing much iodine into the water.

According to a Katadyn white paper that appears scientific to this nonscientist, in practice non-purifying filters that screen contaminants to 0.2 microns remove most viruses since viruses usually attach themselves to bigger things, which are then screened. This apparently hasn't impressed real scientists at the EPA, however, so if using a non-purifying filter on suspect developing-world water you probably should add iodine after filtering. While not as much iodine is necessary as with unfiltered water, you still must wait twenty minutes before drinking.

Using Filters

Avoid fast clogging by always using the cleanest available water. If the water is particularly dirty or silt-laden, let it settle in a pot before filtering, and/or use a coffee filter or cloth as a pre-filter. I permanently clogged a not-field-cleanable filter on the second liter drawn from a silty Washington river.

To clean a clogged filter you must carefully follow manufacturer instructions. A grave possibility is contaminating yourself with the nasty bacteria trapped inside the filter. You must also be careful about contamination from the water-source hose. Take care with a ceramic filter since a hairline crack will make it 100% ineffective.

Selection Criteria for Water Filters

If you will be depending on a filter for much of your water field cleanability, pump speed, and ease of use are far more important than a few ounces of weight. A good filter saves you from carrying at least some water, which weighs eight pounds per gallon (or one kilogram per liter). Pump speed lessens the more the filter is used.

Filters with a pore size of one micron or less are good. Smaller pore sizes and smaller filters clog faster. Carbon filters trap pesticides and metals, which for my taste is a worthwhile feature. Ceramic-only filters do not.

For emergency or short periods of developing world backcountry use, filters such as the PUR Voyageur, PUR Scout, and Sweetwater Guardian with iodine cartridge are good choices. If you will be filtering mostly from faucets or sinks (the usual scenario), clogging and pump speed will be less of a problem, so smaller filters should suffice.
If you will be filtering most or all of your water from wells or streams, say in East Africa or the Darien Gap, then you will appreciate having (and essentially require) an easy-pumping, easy-cleaning, full-size filter. You may also require spare cartridges or filtering elements.

A water purifier is not a requirement for developing-world travel. Most travelers buy most of their water and use iodine tablets or drops in a pinch.

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Water Purification

TRAVELERS MUST INCREASE water intake as they expend more energy carrying a pack, walking, museum-going, and being outside. In hot climates the need for water doubles or triples. Hikers require a gallon or more per day as they sweat and respire water and water vapor. Note that alcohol and caffeinated drinks have a dehydrating effect.

Thirst is not a reliable indicator of hydration state. As visible semi-mucous membranes, lips are. The next time yours feel dry or chapped drink several glasses of water and see what happens.¹

Another barometer is urine color. If it's always dark you're probably a liter or two low. A rule of thumb is to drink enough water to ensure at least two clear, healthy pees per day.

Obtaining Safe Water

In Western Europe, much of Eastern Europe, and other developed countries you can drink safely from public water supplies. In many (but not all) developing countries the water supply contains diarrhea-producing bacteria. While some hard travelers adjust to impure water over weeks or months, most travelers avoid discomfort by buying most or all of their water.

Ice cubes in developing countries are rarely made from purified water; they bite even from alcoholic drinks.

Buying water

is usually easy. It is sold in convenient one or 1.5-liter plastic bottles which cost from fifty cents to $3, depending on the country. Look for a quality label and a safety-sealed cap. Bottled drinks are also safe and routinely drunk by travelers.

Boiling

makes tea, coffee, and soups safe in developing countries. Opinion varies on how much boiling is necessary, but a minute or two at full boil should do the job.

Iodine

is the preferred chemical treatment for water. It is easy and effective in twenty minutes, but iodine probably should not be used for months at a time. It also should not be used by pregnant women and people with thyroid conditions. The two most popular iodine treatments in the U.S. are Potable Aqua and Polar Pure.

Potable Aqua

consists of tiny iodine tablets in a small glass bottle. Directions are one or two tablets (depending upon temperature, clarity, and Giardia control) per liter of water. Shake and let dissolve, then loosen the cap and shake again to allow the iodized water to spread over the threads, killing germs there. It's ready for drinking in twenty minutes.

The water has a slight brownish-orange color, and a moderate iodine taste. Potable Aqua also comes with ascorbic acid tablets, called P.A. Pure, which greatly reduce the iodine taste and off-color.

Potable Aqua tablets should be left sealed in the glass bottle until use as they have a limited effective life after exposure to air.

Polar Pure

consists of a four-ounce (120 milliliter) glass bottle with crystallized iodine in the bottom. First, the bottle is filled with several ounces of water, then after a few minutes (time dependent on water temperature--a small thermometer is attached) this bottle is poured into a quart of water to be purified. The crystals remain in the original glass bottle. While Polar Pure is slightly more complicated than Potable Aqua, less iodine is used, and it has a longer shelf life.

Liquid iodine

from a dropper bottle is an alternate method used by some travelers. When faced with suspect water in a restaurant they add two or three drops per glass of water, stir, and wait a few minutes. This is unscientific but seems to work.

Silver

water disinfectant tablets are expensive at about $20 for a packet of forty tablets, which purifies forty liters. Silver is an alternative for those who don't want to use iodine.

Chlorine

tablets or liquid are not recommended as a water purifier, as chlorine is unstable and not always effective. Since it is also associated with a small cancer risk, only use chlorine in a pinch.

Filtering

cleans water mechanically. Special purifying filters may make sense when camping away from campgrounds--say in Central American National Parks, or otherwise in the bush. Travelers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union could also benefit. In the long run you could save money by filtering instead of buying, and certainly spare Earth from hundreds of unrecycled plastic bottles.

Boiling is inconvenient since it requires much time and fuel. While iodine renders water bacteriologically safe, it doesn't remove crud or improve taste. A good filter pumps out good water in a few minutes, and provides a real boost as opposed to drinking boiled or iodine-purified--but horrible tasting--water.

Drinking Water Using HR-CS AAS

Due to its high electro negativity the element fluorine is the most reactive non-metal and thus does not occur in elementary, but only in combined form. 

Fluorine is the most widespread halogen. Its share in the earth’s

crust is approx. 0.08%. It occurs in large quantities in apatite Ca5(PO4)3(OH,F) and in fluorite CaF2 as well as in the almost exhausted cryolite Na3AlF6 . It is therefore no surprise that fluoride is also found in almost all water bodies - although the fluoride concentration can differ greatly by water type and the geogenic conditions. Seawater contains more than 1mg/L fluoride, rivers and lakes approx. 0.05 - 0.5mg/L, whereas in ground water values above 0.5mg/L are relatively rare. However, in deepwater, especially in sources from hydrothermal deposits, significantly higher fluoride content can also be found, e.g. in geysers more than 20mg/L. Mainly responsible for the fluoride content are the pH value, temperature, solubility conditions and geological preconditions .

There are two sides to the effects of fluoride on human health. On the one hand it is essential for the human organism, because the fluoride ingested with food is a condition for the mineralisation of the apatite in bones and teeth. In this respect a corresponding fluoride content in the drinking water as the most important food is also of great importance with regard to an adequate caries prophylaxis. On the other hand too high a daily absorption of fluoride in all the ingested food can have fatal consequences. Tooth and bone fluorosis result if the daily total fluorine absorption exceeds approximately 20mg F/day .

The control of the fluoride concentration in our foodstuffs is therefore of major importance. Drinking water is the number 1 food and thus subject to a particularly intensive control. Fluoride has been categorised as a substance causing health disorders after a given concentration. The limit defined for fluoride in the drinking water regulations is 1.5mg/L .

MEASURING METHODS FOR FLUORIDE DETECTION

The detection of fluorine as non-metal has been sufficiently described in the literature. The methods range from classical gravimetry and volumetry to photometry and electrochemical titration. The methods for detecting the  fluoride concentration in water dominating today are the ion chromatography (IC)  and the use of ion-selective electrodes (ISE) . Both detection methods have in common that they only respond to ionic dissolved fluoride. Organic or covalent combined fluorine is not detected, so that these detection methods can only be used for purely water-based matrixes.

7TH SPECIALIZED EXPERTS TASK GROUP (SETG) MEETING OF ECO COUNTRIES

Pakistan is hosting the 7th Specialized Experts Task Group (SETG) meeting of ECO Countries at Marriott Hotel, Islamabad on February 6 – 7, 2008. Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and ECO Secretariat are participating in the meeting.

    Ministry of Water & Power have finalized the arrangements of the meeting in which feasibility study of Interconnection power system of ECO Member states would be finalized.