A survey by the Tokyo Institute of Technology showed that two-thirds of residents and 72 percent of tannery workers suffered ailments ranging from cancer to tuberculosis, infections of the kidney or urinary tract, or a loss of memory or eyesight among others.

More alarming was that the majority of the 2,460 people polled in a 2000 sample survey were under age 20.

The city of 350,000, 230 kilometers (143 miles) east of Islamabad, is home to 230 tanneries that process, on average, 180 tonnes of wet salted cattle and buffalo hides and 15 tonnes of sheep and goat skins per day, according to data provided by the city's Tanneries Association.

Chemicals used in the tanneries are freely discharged into a nearby stream and have begun to poison the groundwater, a prime source of fresh water for the community.

"The water is being infected from different sources - waste from the drains and chemicals from the industries around us," said water expert Javaid Afzal of the non-government Leadership for Environment and Developmentorganisation.

Tests have shown the water is laced with lead, mercury and the highly-carcinogenic chromium, but the region's acute water shortage leaves Kasur residents no choice but to drink this toxic cocktail.

The chemicals have also seeped into the food chain, passed on through the vegetables grown in the area that are cultivated with the contaminated water, causing major health problems.

"People are suffering from cancer, and skin and respiratory diseases," Afzal said.

The problem of contaminated water is not endemic to Kasur and is creeping across the vast agricultural plains of Punjab, which are slowly being poisoned by the heavy use of fertilizers which then seep into the underground water table.

Campaigns to educate communities of the dangers of contaminated water are, however, rendered irrelevant in areas with no access to clean drinking water.

"The people of Kasur understand the dangers, but they keep using this water as they are poor, and cannot afford water from other sources," said Doctor Malik Afsar of the Kasur Government Hospital.

"If this pollution continues unabated for another couple of years or so, it will create a situation where much of Pakistan's water sources will be contaminated," warned LEAD chief Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.

"Industries in most Pakistani towns do not have treatment facilities, and discharge their untreated effluent directly into the waterways, putting people's health at high risk."

Such dire circumstances have been a splash of cold water for the Pakistani government, which is moving to address the situation.

Punjab's state environmental protection agency has built a wastewater treatment plant that treats 13,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater daily, said agency environmentalist Jamil Khan.

Some 10 million dollars has also been allocated to wastewater management programs in Pakistan by two UN agencies, but such funds are a drop in the bucket as the volume of waste far exceeds the current infrastructure in place for treatment.

"Kasur's groundwater has been polluted with heavy metals for at least the next 300 years. Contaminants can't be flushed out in days or months," said Syed Ayub Qutub, the principal of Pakistan's National Conversation Strategy.

"The restoration of habitats could be a long process, but once communities are engaged, improvement is possible."

TERRA.WIRE