Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Water Crisis in Ferozkoh Raises Fears of Epidemic Outbreak

Water Crisis in Ferozkoh Raises Fears of Epidemic Outbreak

FEROZKOH - The residents say access to potable water has become difficult and the risk of contracting water-borne diseases is rising especially among children who travel long distance and wait for hours to fetch water home in jerry cans.
Sayed Yahya, one of the residents, told Pajhwok Afghan News all wells drilled recently had run dry and now local residents consumed contaminated water from streams and river.
He said many people especially had fallen ill after using the contaminated water. “Due to lack of clean drinking water, we have been in a very difficult time as we use dirty water, which causes many diseases,” he added.
He warned of a major epidemic outbreak disaster if the issue was not addressed at the earliest possible.
Mohammad Naeem, another affected inhabitant, complained of lack of potable water. “We spend many hours every day and travel long distances to find water pipe and 30 to 40 people wait in lines for their turn, we are in a serious trouble,” he added.
He said they had shared the issue with local authorities, the provincial council and other organs, but to no avail.
Juma Gul Yaqobi, the provincial Public Health Department head, told Pajhwok that lack of water resources, warm weather and lack of potable water use were causes of diseases such as diarrhea and respiratory problems.
“Rivers’ water is completely unhealthy, we have a large number of patients who are suffering from digestive system, most of the cases are related to unhealthy water,” he added.
Abdul HaiKhatibi, the governor’s spokesman, said that for the past 10 years, different government and non-governmental organizations had been trying to supply water from remote areas to Ferozkoh city, but due to the intervention of powerful individuals, they had not been able to do so.
“A number of administrations have conducted surveys within the city and have decided to transfer water from the two rivers Dahan-i-Tasriqi and Band-i-Amir but unfortunately people did not allow this as they believed it would damage their crops and farming.”
He said the local government was committed to addressing the problems with available financial resources and in cooperation of partner institutions as soon as possible. (Pajhwok)