By Arsalan Ali ISLAMABAD, April 27, (INP-WealthPK): Each year 100 million diarrhoea cases are registered in Pakistan, as water quality in most cities is decreasing rapidly. According to UNICEF, 20 to 40 percent of hospitals in Pakistan treat people who are suffering from waterborne illnesses. Cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and hepatitis represent about 80 percent of all diseases and are responsible for 33 percent of deaths. Talking to WealthPK, Muhammad Ali Kemal, Chief of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Planning Commission, said lack of awareness is the number one reason for not using safe drinking water along with a lack of provision of safe and clean water. Secondly, he said, water was not available inside or closer to the house in certain areas. Kemal said because of consumption of contaminated water, malnourishment and stunting decrease a child’s cognitive ability. Provision of safe water reduces deaths caused by the waterborne diseases. In both cases, for getting better results in terms of developing cognitive abilities as well as water-borne diseases, availability of safe drinking water is necessary, he added. Pakistan ranks ninth in the list of top 10 countries with the lowest access to clean drinking water. According to the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRW), water quality has deteriorated over the years because of chemical pollutants released by industries and the solid waste of the population. According to the Pakistan Social and Living Measurement Survey conducted at the district level, 94 percent of households have access to an improved source of drinking water, while 74 percent have access to enhanced drinking water sources on the premises. The availability of water in Pakistan has declined to below 1,000 cubic meters per annum, which is the internationally recognized threshold of water scarcity. Dr Akbar Khan, Research Officer at the Water Management and High-Efficiency Irrigation System, told WealthPK that water-borne diseases were found in remote areas of Sindh and Balochistan due to contamination of the drinking water. The rate of malnutrition is high in the remote areas of Tharparker, Umerkot, and Ghotki districts due to the bad quality of drinking water, he added. Khan said the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) recently launched a water and sanitation initiative that will provide safe drinking water and help reduce water-borne diseases by improving access to water and sanitation services in the remotes area of Umerkot district in Sindh. According to Joudat Ayaz, Additional Secretary Climate Change, the government was committed to tackling the health, water and sanitation and hygiene issues through the ‘Clean Green Pakistan Initiative’. Water management is a big challenge both in quality and quantity, he added. The PCRW has focused on water quantity due to increasing requirements rather than the quality. This is all is due to a lack of awareness, quality monitoring, trained personnel, and equipment. Urgent steps should be taken by the government to ensure availability of safe drinking water and a strict action be taken against those industries that pollute water through untreated chemical wastes.