ACCESSIBILITY ASSESSMENT TO POTABLE WATER SOURCES IN FAISALABAD CITY; USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNIQUES

Abstract

Approach to potable water under satisfactory, assessable, and economically affordable price is one of the major issues in Faisalabad city. This study aims to find accessibility to drinking water sources in Faisalabad city. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect primary data whereas secondary data was collected from the Water and Sanitation Agency water supply (WASA) and the Municipal Corporation of Faisalabad city. Geospatial techniques were used for the spatial coverage of water schemes. We used buffer analysis, and near-distance analysis to find accessibility to portable water in Faisalabad, and kriging analysis was applied to draw the pattern of accessibility to potable water in Faisalabad city. Our findings reveal that the main potable water sources in the study area are borehole water, filtration plants, bottled water, WASA, and canal water. 51.6% of people rely on filtration plants for drinking water. Most filtration plants are in the center of Faisalabad city. Residents are living in remote areas of Faisalabad city cover the maximum distance to collect the potable water. People living in the center of the city cover about 0.03km-3.3km distance to collect potable water. On the other hand, People living in remote areas of Faisalabad city cover about 26.4km-29.7km distance to collect potable water.