The Minister for Environment, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, informed the National Assembly on Friday that the coastal area of Karachi from Clifton to Pakistan Steel Mills is affected due to the daily discharge of about 550 million gallon (MGD) untreated industrial and municipal wastewater.
In a written reply, he said that Karachi Water & Sewerage Board has three treatment plants for the municipal sewerage where only 55 MGD sewage is treated out of total generated waste water of 472 (MGD) and rest of the unhygienic effluent finds its way to the sea. There is only one Combined Effluent Treatment Plant with designed capacity of 10 MGD, located in Korangi Industrial Area.
The City District Government Karachi has planned to install six treatment plants under S-III project in various industrial sites for compliance of NEQs. Marine Pollution Control Board also took up the matter to protect the marine life and ecosystem. Karachi Port Trust (KPT) will provide funds regarding the feasibility study for grating/screens at the mouth of sewerage streams to address the problem of solid wastes being thrown into the sea through two rivers and major nullahs/drains. At present, 90 percent of untreated Karachi sewerage are going into the sea through various outfalls/nullahs, either directly or through Lyari and Malir rivers. After adopting appropriate measures and installation of six treatment plants, it is expected that the environmental situation would improve.
Responding to another question, he said that it is a fact that the underground water in the country is being polluted by those factories and tannery units which have no effluent treatment plants at present.
Steps have been taken by the provincial governments to control the said pollution and have bound those units to establish effluent treatment plants. EPA-Balochistan. In Quetta Industrial Estate no such chemical industries have been established which have to discharge chemical effluent to pollute underground water. However, no waste water treatment plants have been installed by the industries. The Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency has issued notice and personal hearing has also been given to the defaulter. It would be dealt with in accordance with Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997.
In Sindh, majority of the tanneries are located at Sector 7-A, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi. Pakistan Tanners Association (Southern Zone) has established Combined Effluent Treatment Plant at similar place for the treatment of tanneries effluent only. The respective tannery gets membership of the plant to avoid pollution and pays its contribution as per discharge of effluent.
The majority of individual industries in Sindh have no treatment facility and discharge their effluent without treatment in the drains/channels of respective industrial areas which causes contamination of surface and underground water. However, the management of the respective areas had initiated the proposal to establish effluent treatment plants in each site to treat effluent of all industries to save underground water, coastal areas and ecosystem.
In KP, the pollution created by most industries is regularly monitored and any violation found is reported. The EPA Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa then takes action against these industries and in case of further violation to the order of EPA the same industry is prosecuted in the environmental protection tribunal. So far, 434 industries have been prosecuted for violating section (Prohibition of certain discharges and emissions), Section 12 (IEE/EIA), Section 18 (offences by bodies corporate) and Section 19 (offences by government agencies, local authorities and local councils) of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997.
The Agency is monitoring the drinking water of the major cities of all districts of this province under Environmental Monitoring System Project funded by the Provincial Government. So far, 13 districts have been monitored for chemical, physical and bacteriological tests. About 350 samples have been examined for the said tests.
The chemical parameters are almost in range of guidelines for drinking water but biological pollution has been recorded. The pollution varies from 10-60 percent. The high density of pollution has been noticed in Swat/Malakand region due to poor sanitation.
In the next fiscal year, the ministry would embark on a new study for monitoring of soil and ground water near industrial estates in KP. It is hoped that after preparation of this inventory the ministry would be able to determine the degree of deterioration caused by the industrial effluents and further enable the ministry to find a way out.
He added that the EPA-Punjab has already taken action against more than 50 industrial units, which discharged untreated industrial or toilet wastewater into subsoil through soakage wells under provisions of PEP Act, 1997.
Environment Protection Department, Punjab has already requested the Secretaries, Government of the Punjab, Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering (HUD & PHE) Department, Irrigation Department and Industries Department for immediate installation of Waste Water Treatment Plants on all municipal and industrial drains besides lining of these drains to save the ground water and surface water bodies from pollution.
Due to awareness activities by EPA Punjab, more than 150 industrial units have installed some sort of effluent treatment facilities. WASA, Lahore is in the process of making efforts for establishing two Sewage Treatment Plants (for treatment of sewage which also contains industrial effluents) with the financial and technical assistance of JICA and French Government. Similarly, Industrial Estates at Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan have planned for establishment of Common Effluent Treatment plants. A common Effluents Pre-Treatment Plant is already in operation at Kasur for treatment of effluents of 237 tanneries and provision of a common effluent treatment Plant has been made at proposed Establishment of Sialkot Tannery Zone.