PESHAWAR - Owing to prolonged dry spell in parts of the country especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the water level has reduced significantly causing a wave of fear of water scarcity among the dwellers and forced the people in mountainous areas of Buner to migrate to other parts of the district.
Even deep water bores i.e. 150-feet, which were constructed by the people on their own expenses, have been dried and clogged to provide more water to the residents while water lakes and springs were already dry to supply clean drinking water to the people.
“The water level disappeared from our own tube-well after the recent earthquake of 6.1 magnitudes and we hardly manage water for ourselves and for our cattle to bring it from far-off areas. This dry spell in the winter season is a horrific one and it might be the result of our wrong deeds and injustices of the rulers committed in various parts of the country,” Bakhtiar Khan, a local Zamindar, and resident of the area told The Nation.
“The wheat crops which were in the brittle state has not received a single rain in two months in every part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, no decision has been taken under government patronage to hold Namaz-e-Istesqa(special prayer for rain), a common religious practice ,” said Habibullah, another persons of the area.
Zahor Ahmad, Assistant Metrological Officer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Metrological Department told the Nation that it never happened in the past that there was no rain in the winter season and this persistent dry spell caused a severe water shortage.
However, he predicted that rain is expected in next two days and hoped that this dry spell will break with light rain shower in various part of the country.
A week earlier, the met office had also predicted rain in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but that time only Swat received light rain which was insufficient to increase water level of the long dry spell.
The constant spurt of dust and pollutants in the air also causing different diseases due to prolonged dry spell and that was the reason that patients influx has increased in the hospitals with each passing day. A medical specialist Dr Naeem while commenting on the impact of long dry spell on human health told that shortage of rains has considerably amplified the disease ratio like throat and chest infection.
He said that there is some direct and indirect impact of dust on the human body, as the direct inhalation of dust causing throat infection and skin allergies while the indirect connection in the form of contaminated food having dust particle also causing many diseases.
He said that the public needs to be sensitised to cover their mouth, hairs and other parts of the body to protect it from the poisonous impact of the air pollution. He said that one could minimize these impacts if they stop exposing themselves in bazaars and other polluted zones.
He said that daily bath is extremely important in this situation, as in most cases skin is affected due to pollutant air. He said that there is no humidity in the air at daytime and even lighting electric heater in houses open water are needed near the heater and stove to be evaporated for keeping a constant level of humidity in the room.
It is pertinent to mention that ratio of rainfall has been significantly decreased and the last rain recorded in northern areas of the country was December 11, 2017, however, the met office now predicted rains in some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which could contribute to improving underground water level if it showered for a long duration.