INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pakistan is on track to become the most water-stressed country in the region by 2040Kot Assadullah, Pakistan:
Basharat Ali was 15 when his legs began to falter, a condition doctors have blamed on polluted water in a Pakistani region infamous for the
deformities that afflict many of its people.Too weak to carry his own schoolbag, he was taken to hospital, where doctors said water laden
with toxic levels of arsenic, fluoride, minerals and various metals was to blame."It was a big blow to me as I had to quit my studies to get
treatment," Ali told AFP on the rooftop of his house some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's largest province
Punjab.From there Ali's view takes in some of the plastic, chemical, pharmaceutical and wire manufacturing factories nearby
They are widely blamed for contaminating the water local residents have to drink.According to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
90 percent of factories in and around the city dump their waste untreated in open pits or discharge untreated water in streams.Local media
first reported on the problems in Ali's village well over a decade ago, prompting teams from Lahore's government hospital and water
officials to make several visits. There is high concentration of arsenic along the Indus River and its tributariesNew wells have been dug
since, but they only provide more water polluted with arsenic.Meanwhile Ali and other residents of the area have paid a heavy price, with
activists saying 200 other children have suffered bone and dental deformities since 2000."Now these children are grown men and women, but
they remain hidden in their houses
They are not getting any marriage proposals because people say that their bones are deformed," he says.Ali, now 32, remains frail, his teeth
His is permanently disabled, with one leg shorter than the other, and has difficulty walking.His village Kot Assadullah and neighbouring
Kalalanwala, to which it is joined, now have a reputation."People from other villages can recognise us and say 'You are from Kalalanwala',"
said 26-year old Muhammad Mukhtiar, who tends a shop in the village.When AFP visited recently men, women and children carrying cans and
bottles were queueing at a new solar-powered water filtration plant paid for by a charity.A government-funded filtered water plant is also
currently under construction, but residents say neither will be enough. A government-funded filtered water plant is also currently under
constructionWhat's in the waterPunjab officials declined AFP's repeated requests for comment.Chemicals and toxins including arsenic have
been found in the village's drinking water and are causing the deformities, said Dr Khalid Jamil Akhtar, a private clinician who has been
visiting the area for the provincial government.Arsenic, he said, can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach problems, while also affecting
the liver, lungs, kidneys and eventually the entire gastrointestinal tract.Polluted water could also result in neuropathy -- a nerve
dysfunction that can lead to deformity-causing numbness or weakness in the limbs.Dr Akhtar said most of the patients he saw were suffering
from neuropathy, primarily caused by "contaminated water, by the toxins of the factories in the area" -- though he added that some cases
could be caused by genetics, without giving a breakdown.Arsenic -- typically found in groundwater contaminated by untreated industrial,
municipal and agricultural waste -- in particular is a source of increased concern.A study conducted by Swiss expert Joel Podgorski using
1,200 groundwater samples throughout Pakistan said that up to 60 million people were at risk of arsenic poisoning.The study, published last
year, identified high concentrations of arsenic along the Indus River and its tributaries, with "hot spots" around the populated areas of
Lahore and the southern city of Hyderabad.The Pakistan Council of Research in Water (PCRWR) disputes the findings, arguing that the sample
size was too small, but agrees there is an arsenic problem."We have done tests on up to 60,000 samples from Lahore to lower Sindh under a
study being carried out since 1999 and have found arsenic at many places," said Lubna Bukhari, head of water quality for the PCRWR.It also
says that water monitoring projects carried out since 2012 show that between 69 and 85 percent of Pakistan's total water is contaminated or
otherwise unfit for human consumption."We even found arsenic in bottled water," said Bukhari. People are suffering from neuropathy- a
deformity-causing numbness or weakness in the limbsLooming water scarcityThe problem is given extra urgency by Pakistan's looming water
scarcity crisis, with the country on track to become the most water-stressed country in the region by 2040, according to the UN.But there is
no national strategy for cleaning up what water there is and much less for conserving it, with environmental matters left in the hands of
provincial authorities.Twenty years have already passed since deformities started appearing in Kalalanwala, and little change has taken
place.There, a 25-year-old labourer named Naveed said his legs became deformed when he was three years old."I don't have any hope as we are
poor and nobody listens to us," Naveed said.(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a
