The two major hindrances in the progress of our country are poverty and ignorance

The two major hindrances in the progress of our country are poverty and ignorance.” These thoughts were expressed by Dr. Shaukat Farooq of SHELADIA Associates at an orientation session followed by a poster competition on SODIS organized by SDPI, here at Best Western on Tuesday.

Dr. Shaukat Farooq of SHELADIA Associates, Shakeel Ahmed Ramay, Head, Climate Change Study Centre and Mome Saleem, Research Associate and Project Head, SODIS were among the presenters. Shakeel Ahmed Ramay, Head of Climate Change Study Centre conducted the proceedings.

Mome Saleem gave a brief introduction of SODIS and other household water treatments and why it is important to include them in our daily life. She said that the poster competition was basically held to engage the youth in raising awareness about alternate and cost-effective methods of water disinfection, as the youngsters are the ones who would be taking lead in near future and it is very important that they should have the basic information of such methods of water treatments in a developing country like Pakistan. She said that there is an urgent need to address the issue of using household water treatments to get rid of the issue of water contamination. She expressed her gratitude to the participants and said that she was very impressed with the understanding of youngsters of the importance of having clean drinking water to drink.

Dr. Shaukat Farooq gave a general overview on the importance of using household water treatments and he emphasized and encouraged the role of youth in taking forward the task of advocating and campaigning for such simple and easily adaptable methods. He said that in a country like Pakistan there is no safe water guarantee as there are but few treatment plants for specific purposes, mainly of removing turbidity from the waters. He pointed out that drinking water is an issue for all, as all of us would have to drink from the same waters and our survival depends upon it.

He said that in case of floods and other disasters generally, in remote areas of Pakistan especially, there is acute problem of clean & safe drinking water so SODIS can be a method that could lower the number of ecoli and coliform i.e. the disease causing bacteria, in water and hence many lives can be saved that are lost due to waterborne diseases. He expressed his concern over people polluting the country and not owning it. He stressed that our country is our own responsibility. Elaborating on the method of Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS), he said that there are mainly three types of organisms in water hat are disease causing namely Bacteria, Viruses and Protozoa. Sunlight has UV rays in it that act on the bacteria that are disease causing and mutes their disease causing ability. So SODIS is an effective method where no alternate methods are practicable like boiling, UV filtration etc.

In the end, the prize distribution ceremony was held, with Dr. Shaukat Farooq and Mome Saleem presenting gifts and certificates to the winners and runner ups. Shehryar Khan of Beaconhouse, Hasan Ashgar of Lahore Grammar School and Bisma Pervaiz of Beaconhouse School System were the first, second and third position holders respectively.