Inflicting big losses to human lives and properties on one hand, the floods have polluted the drinking water reservoirs on the other hand, creating an acute shortage of drinking water in affected areas of the province, the Irrigation Department informed on Tuesday. It said around 2 million people of different affected areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were lacking the facility of clean drinking water that may cause a spread of various epidemics. In flood-hit districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Swat, Dir Lower, Dir Upper, Kohistan, Shangla, Malakand, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda and Dera Ismail Khan many areas were faced with an acute shortage of clean drinking water where water ponds and wells were polluted by the flood waters. The department further said that the underground clean water has also been contaminated by the flood waters in various flood hit areas causing shortage of drinking water. In affected areas, people were drinking polluted water that was causing various abdominal and stomach diseases among people. It said provision of clean drinking water in flood hit areas has become a big challenge that was why mineral water has been prioritized in assistance for the flood affected people. The Department said that in various flood affected areas, planning has been made to provide drinking water for cattle. The Irrigation Department expressed its concern that provision of drinking water to the flood hit people and their cattle must be ensured for a period of one month otherwise there was possibility of loss of more human and cattle lives in flood-hit areas.