SHC seeks report from KWSB on sewage treatment plants in Karachi

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) to submit a detailed report with regard to the functioning of sewage treatment plants TP-I and TP-III at the Lyari River and TP-IV at Korangi.

The World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan, the Citizens for Better Environment (Shehri-CBE), the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society and others had approached the court seeking an injunction against the release of industrial waste and untreated sewage into the sea.

During the hearing of their petition, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi also directed the sewage treatment plants project director to appear before the court with the relevant record.

The counsel of the KWSB sought time to file a detailed report with regard to the functioning of sewage treatment plants TP-I and TP-III at the Lyari River and TP-IV at Korangi. The court was informed that a Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) team along with a Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) official had visited the DHA sewage treatment plant at the Golf Club.

The counsel also sought time to submit a report about the working of the sewage treatment plant at DHA. The court directed the counsels of Sepa, the KWSB and the CBC to submit their compliance reports on May 23.

The court had earlier directed Sepa to carry out an inspection in the Sea View area near private restaurants to ascertain from how many places industrial waste and untreated sewage were being discharged into the sea.

Sepa had informed the court that DHA generates 8mgd of sewage and has two treatment plants at the Golf Club and Qublai Khan, having the capacity to treat only 2.4mgd and 2mgd respectively, resulting in 3.33mgd being disposed of without treatment into the sea.

The environment watchdog’s director general said the Qublai Khan treatment plant treated around 1.2mgd to 1.4mgd, while the status of the treatment plant at the Golf Club could not be ascertained because the Sepa team was not provided access to enter and investigate.

The Sepa DG suggested that all treatment plants as well as combined effluent treatment plants in the industrial zones need to be completed as soon as possible and the environmental laws need to be enforced to control wastewater pollution.

Sepa also said that as much as 417mgd of domestic effluent and 80mgd of industrial untreated wastewater were being dumped into the sea and in the coastal areas of the city due to a lack of comprehensive collection and treatment facilities of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater.

The Sepa DG said that such untreated water causes adverse effects on the marine ecosystem. He said that 55mgd of domestic effluent was being treated at treatment plants against the 151mgd of optimum design capacity of the plants, having a shortfall of 322mgd, while 417mgd of untreated sewage is being dumped into the sea.

He said that seven industrial zones of Karachi generate approximately 104mgd of wastewater, while around 80mgd of untreated water is being dumped into the sea.

He added that the Sindh government has initiated projects of the combined effluent treatment plants established in various industrial zones, and agreed to release funds for the completion of projects within the due period of time.

The CBC had told the court that a treatment plant had been constructed at Sea View and it was operational, so all the sewage and industrial waste was being cleaned at the plant. CBC officials said they were not dumping any solid waste or garbage into the sea.

The petitioners’ counsel had said that the acts and omissions of the civic agencies are not only destroying marine life and disturbing the ecological balance but their oversight is also affecting the health of the people visiting the beach for recreational purposes.

The counsel maintained that the people living near the beaches commonly find corpses of endangered green turtles and other cetaceans, which die due to water pollution.

The petitioners said the sea is being polluted by sewage at Sea View near private restaurants. They requested the court to direct the civic agencies to take steps for the cleanliness of the beaches, and ensure that sewage and industrial waste are not discharged into the sea.