Peshawar gets wastewater treatment system

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Minister for Local Government Election and Rural Development Department (LGE&RDD) Sawal Nazir inaugurated the Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System.

Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) developed the system with financial and technical assistance from UNICEF here at Wazirbagh Park.

It will treat sewage water of the surrounding locality that will be used for irrigation of the park.

LGE&RDD Secretary Syed Zaheerul Islam, Chief Executive Officer WSSP Hassan Nasir, UNICEF Country WASH chief Haile Gawsha, UNICEF Chief Field Office Peshawar Abdullahi Muhammad Yusuf, General Manager, Planning, Monitoring and Reporting (PMER) Syed Zamirul Hassan and General Manager (Operations) Turab Shah were also present.

The PMER general manager briefed the minister on the overall aspects, including cost, environmental impacts and benefits of the project for the community.

The minister called the project a step in the right direction that, he hoped, would help conserve clean drinking water and end water pollution, adding it would have a profound impact on the health and well-being of the community.

He said a clean environment and access to potable water was very important for human health, lamenting that the lack of wastewater treatment plants in cities was polluting freshwater resources. “The government and its relevant departments are aware of the problem and several projects are underway to find a lasting solution to

save freshwater resources,” he said.

The minister thanked UNICEF for its financial assistance in different areas and said continuous assistance shows the organisation’s trust and confidence in the KP government. He pointed out that the project was completed ahead of the deadline and hoped the organization would continue funding low-cost projects with immense health and environmental impacts for society.

The WSSP’s chief executive officer shed light on the importance of the project and said WSSP was not only striving to supply clean drinking water but taking steps to conserve groundwater resources and prevent them from contamination.

“The project is energy-efficient and environment-friendly that has been completed in collaboration with locals to inculcate a sense of ownership among them,” Nasir said. He also shared details of other projects completed recently for improvement in the water supply system, including the installation of water testing devices and SCADA system on 46 tube-wells.

UNICEF’s Abdullahi said the Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System was not a big project but very significant for the city. He said completion of the project was a step towards the bigger project in treating wastewater and hoped that a time was not far when the city would have so many systems.

The organization has funded various projects in the Water and Sanitation sector with WSSP including the replacement of water supply lines, tube-wells automation, installation of water testing devices on tube-wells and reconstruction of a sewerage system.