Jornal de Efeitos e Controle da Poluição
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Environmental Concerns for Water Consumption from Polluted Water Bodies in Watershed Area of Sindh Province

Mahessar AA, Qureshi AL, Ursani H, Tunio I, Kandhro B and Memon SA*

In the developing countries like Pakistan, the major source of water for drinking, agriculture and industries is the surface and groundwater. The main users of water are three sectors (e.g., domestic, agriculture and industries) that have not found proper disposal networks for untreated wastewater. The indiscriminate effluents from these areas are being discharged into water bodies and thereby, water becomes unfit for drinking and reuse. Furthermore, this contamination becomes detrimental to environment and creates serious health issues. The use of chemical and pesticides for crops is common practice and run-off from irrigated-agriculture finds its way into surface water bodies and seeps into ground water which also drains into water bodies, as resulting in water pollution, environmental concerns and adverse health problems. This paper presents adverse impact of the industrial, agricultural and raw sewage effluents disposal into Left Bank Outfall Drainage (LBOD) system in Sindh Province which blights the surface water bodies and groundwater quality. In Sindh province, 78% of ground water quality is brackish and or saline which is not fit for drinking and domestic use. However, the people are withdrawing it for drinking where facility of fresh surface water is not available and this phenomenon becomes major cause of diseases (i.e., hyper tension/ blood pressure, dysentery, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis etc.). The analyzed results of collected samples from drains and groundwater exhibit higher level of polluted water which is unfit for drinking and biotic life.