14 DAY TRIAL // People living in the Pakistani village of Hudiara have been using water coming from the Hudiara Drain in order to irrigate their crops for quite some time now.
Thus, they seem to be oblivious to the fact that, as pointed out by environmentalists several times before, this particular water source is bound to be contaminated by industrial waste coming from factories that carry on with their business in its vicinity.
Inter Press Service explains that, because these factories are engaged in a wide variety of activities such as textile, food, beverage and oil processing, the industrial pollutants they release into the Hudiara drain are also rather diverse.
Interestingly enough, although these pieces of information are readily available to the general public, the people continue to rely on this toxic water sources in their agricultural practices.
Apparently, they firmly believe that the water cannot be damaging to their health, simply because it is constantly flowing and this somehow cleans it up.
The same source informs us that one of the villagers told the press that, “Flowing water can never be harmful; it's the stagnant water that's bad.”
To make matters even worse, animals are also allowed to drink this water, and even bathe in it. Because of this, researchers warn that toxic chemical compounds are bound to enter the local food chain by means of milk and meat consumption.
According to recent reports, most of the vegetables grown in this village contain a bit too much iron, nickel, cadmium and zinc. To be more precise: concentrations for all said substances exceeded safe limits.
However, seeing how the people in this part of the world are presently facing a major water crisis, as a result of major development projects which are exhausting ground water supplies, it is highly unlikely that Hudiara villagers will give up on their present irrigation practices anytime soon.