Tanneries a major factor for environmental degradation

Tanneries, which have a mushroom growth in and around Sialkot over last decade, are major factor for environmental degradation. At present, more than 248 tanneries are functioning here of which nine large, 79 medium and 169 small tanneries, which have been set up without planning and without proper system of waste disposal.
Undoubtedly, the leather goods and leather products industries were representing one of the most important sectors of the national economy, but it had created numerous problems not only for human and marine life but affected the sub-soil water adversely.
Most of the tanneries are functioning along Sialkot-Sambrial Road, Sialkot-Pasrur Road, Sialkot-Daska Road and Sialkot-Head Marala Road. Leather industry may be a foreign exchange earner, but it cannot be denied that it is responsible for major role in environmental pollution.
According to an estimate, 90 million meters leather is annually manufactured while chemical consumption is 65,000 tons for leather processing in tanneries in Pakistan whereas 20 to 25 percent chemicals are used and absorbed, but 75 to 80 percent unused are liberated in industrial effluent. Similarly, 40,000 tons toxic chemical are used in tanneries industries in the country of which 9,600 tons chemicals are being used and consumed by the tanning sector of Sialkot.
The effluents of these tanneries are being diverted to seasonal nullahs - Aik and Bhed - which pass through the city and adjoining areas while tanneries located outside the municipal limits are discharging waste into Palkhu Nullah. The pure water of these seasonal nullahs that was used by the villagers for washing, irrigation purposes and meeting other needs have been turned into drains.
Another alarming development is that the sub-soil water of Daska, Sambrial, and Sialkot tehsils is slowly becoming unfit for human consumption as well as for irrigation purposes and is leading to gradual fall in agricultural production.
It may be mentioned that during the monsoon season the effluents of these tanneries flood vast tracts of agricultural land and damage standing crops. The disposal of untreated waste water into seasonal nullahs, sewerage, water-courses and in agricultural land has destroyed the environment in more ways than one. For instance, milch cattle, whose milk is being supplied to the city bathe in these nullahs and drink contaminated water. It has also been noticed that milkmen used polluted water for adulteration purposes.
Later, polluted milk supplied in the city. Apart from tanneries various other industrial units have been set up haphazardly in the city, exposing people to all manner of pollution. Smithies are a major source of noise pollution. Heaps of garbage could be seen everywhere and drains have not been desilted for years.
According to medical experts, the pollution will reach dangerous levels during few years if remedial steps are not taken on war-footing.
They said due to the use of contaminated drinking water the tendency of aliment of increasing rapidly and over 70 percent citizens are suffering from stomach and liver diseases, 60 percent dysentery and 85 stomach diseases in Sialkot, Daska and Sambrial tehsils.
They said that drinking water being supplied in Sialkot had become totally unfit for human use because in most of the areas the water pipes and sewerage pipelines interlinked and discharge of sewages from homes are mixing directly with the underground drinking water.
However, a Cleaner Production Centre (CPC) here has been set up which is a joint project of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), and the Norwegian Agency for Co-operation and Development (Norad) under the management of the Pakistan Gloves Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PGMEA).
The objective of the CPC is to control the indiscriminate discharge of potentially harmful solid waste and heavily polluted waste water and improve working condition in tanneries with the implementation of in-house cleaner production techniques.
The international trade in leather and leather products had grown dramatically in the past 15-year while the value of global import of leather and leather products had also been increased. However, the conditions governing international trade in leather and leather products undergone notable changes as well as the consumer love to buy goods that are made by the environmental-friendly methods.
Keeping in view the growing threats of pollution, it is suggested that the adoption of waste management system may be adopted to dispose of 115 tons solid waste per week of Sialkot city. Industrial and municipal waste may properly be managed and adequate arrangements should be made for regular cleanliness of water reservoirs for avoiding the water-borne diseases such as Hepatitis-A, cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, etc.