It is mandatory for the industrial units under the rules to have plants to treat their effluent before discharging it.
This was stated by the head of the Supreme Court-mandated judicial commission on water and sanitation, Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, while he was speaking on Saturday as the chief guest at the first session of a seminar on industrial wastewater management organised by the US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) in collaboration with University of Utah, United States.
Around 4,000 industrial units in Sindh did not have treatment plants before the formation of the judicial commission and 450 million gallons of untreated water per day was released into the sea directly, Justice (retd) Muslim told the seminar. He added that the judicial commission compelled the provincial and federal authorities to ensure that industrial units had treatment plants on their premises to treat their effluent before it was released.
A treatment plant treating 70 to 80 MDG water was established on the commission’s directions, the commission head said, adding that another treatment plant with a capacity of treating 100MGD water would also start functioning by June 2019.
The Karachi Port Trust has also committed to install a treatment plant with 100 MGD capacity while another such plant would also start operating within two years, Justice (retd) Muslim maintained.
Commenting on the water crisis in Sindh, the judicial commission head remarked that one of the major reasons behind the crisis was mismanagement. He went on to say that industrial units should be made accountable if they released wastewater without treating it as it caused pollution.
Justice (retd) Muslim said pollution caused by untreated effluent had been harming public health and also the marine life. He suggested that all the stakeholders should monitor the situation together and also try to find a sustainable solution to the problem.
He also touched on solid waste management in the province and emphasised the need for effective management of solid waste as garbage heaps in residential areas of the province were also a major issue.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Sindh and Balochistan Acting Mission Director Mark Sorensen said USAID always supported the research and academic activities in Pakistan to find out solutions to the persisting problems related to water, energy and agriculture sectors.
The seminar will pave the way for collaborative efforts to improve the management of wastewater in the province, Sorenson said. He added that USAID-funded water studies centre at MUET had produced quality graduates who would engage themselves to resolve the water crises in the country.
Shedding light on the history of USPCAS-W, MUET Vice Chancellor Dr Mohammad Aslam Uqaili said the centre was established four years ago with the generous support of USAID and using the latest curricula and state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, it aimed at producing water experts to resolve the water issues of the country.
Without the quality human resource and reliable data, no issue could be resolved satisfactorily, Dr Uqaili said. He informed the seminar that 35 sugar mills in Sindh were operating without any treatment plant causing various water and environment issues.
Two project directors at USPCAS-W, Dr Bakshlal Lashari from MUET and Dr Steven Burain from University of Utah, also spoke at the first technical session and highlighted the research being carried out at the Center.
Sindh Minister for Climate Change, Coastal Development, Information, and Science and Technology Muhammad Taimur Talpur was the chief guest at the second session of the seminar. Addressing the participants, he said any world war in the future would take place on the issue of water as one of the essential requirements of human beings had become rare.
The minister also commented on waste of water in daily life. Instead of taking five minutes to take shower, we take 20 minutes, he said, adding that people had adopted a lifestyle that was unfriendly to the environment.
Talpur also praised the performance of the judicial commission, saying that due to the commission, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) had been faring well.