Flourforurenet drikkevand er kilde til sygdom og misdannelser i Pakistans Tharparkar distrikt, hvor folk ofte ikke har råd til at drive de nødvendige rensningsanlæg.
KARACHI, 14 April 2011 (IRIN) – Tharparkar in Pakistani’s Sindh Province relies heavily on underground water sources because it has no rivers, but fluoride contamination is proving a major source of illness, experts say.
“The worst affected villages are Samoon Rind, Kalario, Narovari and Sukhani,” Iftikhar Ahmed, a researcher from Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) said. “In Samoon Rind alone, of the 950 residents, over 300 are suffering from dental and skeletal fluorosis.
“We carried out multiple tests on them to rule out any genetic disorder,” he added. “Combined with poor nutrition and hygiene, the population is very vulnerable.”
A high fluoride intake causes dental and skeletal fluorosis, osteosclerosis, thyroid and kidney problems. It also leads to irreversible chronic bone and joint deformations.
A joint study in 2010 by DUHS, the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and a local NGO Association for Water, Applied Education & Renewable Energy (AWARE) – found over 80 percent of groundwater in the district unfit for human consumption.
POVERTY
“What we need here are desalination/fluoride ion removal plants,” he said. “AWARE has installed windmills to get water from deep underground, and small plants for desalination and removal of fluoride in different villages, but that is still not sufficient.”
However, two desalination plants set up by AWARE in Sajai and Samoo Rind lie abandoned for lack of money to buy the fuel to run them.
“The communities here are poor and cannot pool enough money to run these facilities,” Rahimoo told IRIN. “The federal and provincial governments must take the problems here into account.”
He added: “The ‘talukas’ [sub-districts] of Umarkot, Chachroo and Mithi are severely affected by fluoride contamination. Although deeper wells are a possible solution, the people lack the resources for digging and maintaining these installations.
