low-cost technologies for water treatment

We need to have low-cost technologies for water treatment like SODIS and provinces need to be taken on board as well to give informed choice to masses.” said Mr. Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, Minister of Environment. He was talking at an orientation session held at the Ministry of Environment here on Thursday. Speakers were present at a session jointly organized by SDPI and Ministry of Environment on drinking water treatment option in collaboration with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). While appreciating the initiative, Mr. Hameedullah Jan showed his keen interest in having alternative and affordable methods for water sanitation and showed his pledge in going forward with such methods that would be beneficial in saving many lives lost due to water-borne diseases and also easily available in times of flood disaster and energy crises.

Kamran Ali Qureshi, Additional Sectary, Ministry of Environment endorsed SODIS being a cost-effective and easy to use Household Water Treatment method that could be incorporated in provincial plan of action through consultation with the provincial ministries for national level implementation. He also offered to have a common stand for this initiative and considered SDPI’s platform as facilitator. He also said that there needs to be an action plan and the MoE is ready to fund any further technical inquiry data collection and analysis. He asked the panel from SDPI to formulate a scheme to be reviewed with the board.

Mome Saleem, Research Associate, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said that SODIS and other cost effective Household Water Treatments (HWTs) need to be incorporated in the action plan for drinking water policy 2009. She further suggested the replication of Existing Community Model of Faisalabad at national level in liaison with relevant ministries. She also shared the best practice in Faisalabad to be resulting in 32% decline in incidence of diarrhea in year 2008 as compared to 2007.

Dr Shaukat Farooq suggested a meeting with the ministry of environment so ideas concerning to cheap and effective HWTs such as SODIS can be discussed in detail supported with scientific facts and technical data.

Voicing the scientific facts he said that ultraviolet waves disinfect water and also kill the bacteria. Referring to studies, he said that disinfection was most effective at temperatures of 40 to 46 centigrade and that on these temperatures SODIS is effective in removing viruses and coliform. He shared the standards prevalent in Pakistan for safe drinking water and elaborated on the effectiveness of SODIS by referring to various researches previously conducted.

Shahid Mehmood shared his experience of working with various schools and on other community levels, and their positive response to this method. He also shared about the deteriorated condition of the water distributing tools such as pipes etc. He stressed on the need to shift the existing paradigm so that people can adapt to better options for their livelihood. He also shared an interesting video regarding the media campaign been initiated on SODIS on the local level.

Shakeel Ahmed Ramay gave his suggestions that where there are lesser energy options available nowadays SODIS is very economical. He stated that there needs to be a policy framework for sustained livelihood patterns and the media needs to be actively involved with the campaign. In the end, questions were raised on the usage of PET bottles and if the carsogenic elements are present in SODIS treated water. It was concluded that it is safe to use food grade PET bottles which was substantiated by EAWAG data and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation.