Engulfed by a thick black layer visible even to the naked eye, Peshawar is rated as one the highly polluted cities of the country where average carbon monoxide is monitored at 17PPM and at some places up to 38PPM while the WHO limit is 9PPM.
The dust level in the provincial metropolis is 10 times above WHO limit whereas the noise level on many spots is between 90 to 100 db while the WHO limit is 85 db.
Similarly, according to the IUCN the ozone level has reached 49.5 particles per billion in the congested areas of Peshawar whereas the level of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen has reached 46.5 and 44 particles per billion which is quite alarming.
Once famous for its serene beauty and gardens, the historic city of Peshawar is swarmed these days by huge population and ever-increasing number of vehicles are making it unsafe for healthy living.
A total of 200 thousand vehicles ply on the roads of Peshawar out of the four million vehicles presently plying in the country. At least 400 percent increase in the vehicular transport has been recorded in the last two decades in the country to cater to the needs of the growing population. Pressure horns, vehicular emissions and narrow roads of the city present the picture of an over populated beehive.
Unfortunately, all efforts to arrest environmental degradation, the quality of environment in the city as well as in the country continue to deteriorate resulting in pollution, land degradation, deforestation, water depletion and loss of biodiversity. Pollution caused by vehicular emission and industrial waste kills three million people every year world-wide. Moreover, according to the WHO report 80 percent diseases and deaths in the developing countries are caused by contaminated water.
The World Health Organisation figures reveal that impure water causes death of an infant every second and the water-borne diseases kill around two million people every year.
Pollution is divided into three types of air, water and land pollution. Defined briefly the term 'pollution' means contamination of the environment. Pollution alters unfavourably the properties of air, land and water and makes them detrimental to health or welfare of persons and is harmful to the biodiversity.
The air pollution is caused by vehicular emission, burning of solid waste, cottage industries, construction of buildings, industries, brick kilns, stone crushers, pressure horns and defective silencers. Air pollution leads to a number of diseases such as Asthma, various kinds of skin and other allergies and pneumonia.
The World Bank Study shows that due to the increasing pollution caused by deforestation and lack of proper disposal system for the industrial waste, per-capita water availability in Pakistan has been decreasing at an alarming rate. In 1951, per-capita availability of water was 53,000 cubic meters which has now decreased to 12,000 cubic meters, just touching the water scarcity level of 1000 cubic meters. The study shows that water resources are under threat due to untreated discharge of municipal and industrial wastes to rivers and other surface water reservoirs. It reveals that the waste matter of cities is mostly thrown into the rivers having high Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemicals Oxygen Demand (COD).
Protection of forests and wildlife in Pakistan dates back to independence period but efforts to address environmental concerns gained momentum after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Stockholm in 1972. In 1975, Environment and Urban Division was established in the Ministry of Housing, Works and Urban Affairs.
The 2006 slogan of United Nations is "Don't Desert Dry Lands" and has urged upon the people to adopt healthy living so as to help sustain mankind on this planet.
Talking to APP, Dr Muhammad Bashir, Director Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) NWFP, said that Vehicular Emission Test (VET) is being carried out with the assistance of traffic police since 1997 and a total of 224,240 vehicles have been tested in Peshawar so far out of which 161,498 have cleared the test. He said that the present provincial government has provided funds for setting-up of three regional offices of EPA in Abbottabad, Mingora and Dera Ismail Khan.
He said that the Chief Minister NWFP has approved establishment of VET stations at D.I Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Mardan and Abbottabad which would help address the growing menace of pollution besides providing jobs to the people.
Dr Muhammad Bashir said that EPA under the NWFP Annual Development Programme (ADP) is currently working on eight projects including Introduction of a pollution monitoring system at marble industries of Buner, Kherabad and Warsak, promotion of human resources for environmental analysis, tree plantation campaign in Peshawar, a project of scientific way of disposal of waste material at 10 selected spots in the province, proper drainage system of industrial waste at Hayatabad Industrial zone, analysis of environmental condition of NWFP and raising environmental awareness in society through print and electronic media.
He said that the Provincial government in collaboration with the Japanese donor agency JICA is initiating a project worth Rs 1 billion to install equipment to constantly monitor the level of pollution in the five big cities of the country, including Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta. Environmental issues are the main reason for the poor health of the citizens and some bold steps are required to be taken like the introduction of CNG in public transport system.
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