The green bench of the Lahore High Court directed Environment Protection Department and Water and Sanitation Agency to submit revised list of all the industries causing water pollution in the River Ravi by June 1. Earlier Additional Secretary Environment submitted a list of industries mentioning 283 factories causing water pollution, while Wasa Director mentioned 520 factories in his report.
At this the court asked for revised and complete report having details of all the factories. The petitioners, Pakistan Environmental Law Association and Lahore Conservation Society through their counsel Rafay Alam submitted before the bench that the River Ravi is the most polluted river in Pakistan. He said that major disposal of water in the River occurs in the 84 kilometre reach area of the river between Ravi Syphon and the Balloki Headworks.
The Ravi River flows past the city of Lahore for this stretch, he said. Within the reach area, it receives wastewater at the following points including pumping stations of Shadbagh, Shahdara, Main Out Fall Road, Babu Sabu (Gulshan Ravi), Multan Road, Deg Nullah and Hadiara Drain.
He said in a paper titled 'Water Quality Assessment of Effluent Receiving Streams in Pakistan', various effluent sources which contribute to pollution in River Ravi were considered over a period of three years and 14 sampling stations were chosen in the reach area.
The assessment quotes a study by EPA wherein the discharge from 14 disposal stations discharging untreated wastewater into River Ravi is 1,650 cusecs, he said. He said the problem of environment pollution due to toxic metals has begin to cause concerns in more areas where water for irrigation is becoming scarce and people are using the drain water for irrigation. He therefore prayed to the court to issue directions to the government of the Punjab and Wasa to fulfil their responsibilities and to provide sewerage treatment facility.
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