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SPECIAL REPORT WATER

The curable curse of contaminated wastewater


Wastewater poses a serious challenge to human health and agriculture across Pakistan. Lack of $300 (PKR 18,000) more than farmers using
freshwater. A child killer
education and awareness is pushing thousands of people towards a slow and silent death. The high cost of replacing the usage of It is estimated that nearly 250,000 child
Fakhra Hassan probes the gaps, the issues and possible solutions through an effective wastewater wastewater with fresh water is a major hin- deaths occur each year in Pakistan due to water-
management system. drance, but the lack of awareness among the un- borne diseases which include typhoid, nema-
educated and ill-exposed majority of Pakistan’s tode infection, diarrhea and malaria. Waste-
population is even a bigger challenge. Sizeable water farmers had a four-five fold higher risk of
investments first need to be made in educating hookworm infection than a group of non-
the people and creating awareness about health, wastewater users. There was no difference in
education and sanitation issues. risk of hookworm infection between children of
Industry experts say implementation of a
wastewater farmers and children of non-waste-
cluster of pilot projects could multiply into well-
water irrigators.
planned, cost effective, bigger, and sustainable
wastewater treatment projects. Such projects
could be implemented through Public-Private Enforcement of water
Partnership (PPP), which the government is now
actively talking about pursuing across a wide laws a necessity
range of sectors for the provision of services and
infrastructure. he World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund
Naqi of WWF says there are exceptions, some
individuals and multinational companies have in-
vested in managing toxic wastes. “For the multi-
T (WWF), and several other organistaions
have identified wide gaps between the
national public sector and private sector man-
nationals there are global policies that must be agement of water in Pakistan. The World Bank
followed, therefore their decision to invest in says Pakistan is one of the most water-stressed
water treatment issues is a policy decision; nor- countries in the world, and could face serious
mally they don’t have a choice. Investments in water shortages if new water projects are not
well-planned projects could contribute signifi- implemented.
cantly to the wastewater management scenario Privatisation of water services could fill
in Pakistan,”he says. u some gaps, but it would also make water more
expensive in the short term, causing political

n 2004, more than two million people living in treated urban wastewater generally flows into textile processing, leather manufacturing, paper lished by the Canadian International Develop-
Wastewater Produced Annually by Towns and Cities headaches for the government. Nevertheless,
there is urgent need for enforcing laws to mon-

I Multan, Bhawalpur, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Gu-


jranwala, and Lahore were drinking unsafe
water, some with a high arsenic concentration.
open drains and there are no provisions for reuse
of the treated wastewater for agriculture or other
municipal uses. “It is a serious health issue,” says
and pulp, and petroleum manufacturing are
recognised globally as polluting sectors.
Untreated wastewater is used for irrigation in
ment Research Centre (IDRC) revealed that farm-
ers in Faisalabad, an industrial city with enor-
mous amounts of wastewater, annually earned
City Urban Population
(1998 Census)
Total Wastewater
Produced (million m3/y)
%of Total %Treated Receiving Water Body itor and direct the usage of water. Laws should
also be promulgated for groundwater extrac-
tions to save the reservoirs from drying out
Today, their numbers could be much higher. The Naqi whose organisation has been working on over 80 per cent of the Pakistani communities prematurely.
situation calls for a concerted effort to create water conservation for more than 10 years in var- with more than 10,000 inhabitants. This is due to Government policies to tackle Lahore 5,143,495 287 12.5 0.01 River Ravi, irrigation canals, vegetable farms “Surface level water should be classified
awareness and activate corrective measures ious areas of Pakistan. the absence of alternative water sources. The up- water issues include: Faisalabad 2,008,861 129 5.6 25.6 River Ravi, River Chenab and vegetable farms according to its quality as A, B, or C. The A class
through the involvement of policy makers, infra- Groundwater is the only source of drinking side is that for irrigation, wastewater is high in l National Water Policy (Draft) Gujranwala 1,132,509 71 3.1 SCARP drains, vegetable farms water such as rivers should be used for drink-
-
structure developers, and the people living in the water for the majority of people in Pakistan. A nutrient value and reliability, and unlike regular l National Environmental Policy Rawalpinidi 1 ,409,768 40 1.8 - River Soan and vegetable farms ing purposes, B for cooking and washing pur-
areas exposed to contaminated water. strong imbalance between water distribution sys- irrigation water, it does not flow to a rotational l Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997
poses, while C class water should be used for
Sheikhupura 870,110 15 0.7 - SCARP drains
The ground realities are stark. The challenge tems and available sources in rural areas poses a schedule. Another reason for the high usage of recreational purposes. There is need for devel-
l Canal and Drainage Act (1873) Multan 1,197,384 66 2.9 - River Chenab, irrigation canals and vegetable farms
is of a gigantic nature, saving tens of thousands serious risk of drying up the groundwater supply. wastewater is its proximity to the urban markets. oping a national drinking water policy,”Dr Ejaz
of people from dying a slow death by drinking Polluted water in the poor urban, as well as rural The lack of adequate resources of irrigation l Punjab Minor Canals Act (1905) Sialkot 713,552 19 0.8 - River Ravi, irrigation canals and vegetable farms Ahmad, Deputy Director at WWF Pakistan tells
polluted and contaminated water. “If you look at areas, and lack of proper sanitation, drainage, water has made the use of wastewater for irriga- l Sindh Fisheries Ordinance (1980) Karachi 9,339,023 604 26.3 15.9 Arabian Sea NGO World.
l
the performance of industrial sectors in Pakistan, sewerage and desalination systems are causing tion a necessity. This also has a significant impact The Greater Lahore Water Supply Sewerage & Hyderabad 1,166,894 51 2.2 34.0 River Indus, irrigation canals and SCARP drains Until 2002, there were no quality stan-
government figures indicate that hardly one per disease and death. on household incomes of farmers using waste- dards for drinking water. The Ministry of Sci-
l Drainage Ordinance (1967) Peshawar 982,816 52 2.3 36.2 Kabul River
cent of the total waste generated throughout the At present, industrial usage of water in Pak- water to grow their crops. A research report pub- ence and Technology, Environment Protection
country is treated. The remaining 99 per cent, istan stands at 1.6 million acre feet, and more Other 19,475,588 967 41.8 0.7 - Agency (EPA), a Non-Government Organisation
Pakistan’s Water Scenario Total Urban 43,440,000 2,301 100.0 7.7 -
which in many cases is highly toxic, is dumped in than 30 per cent of the country’s electricity is (NGO) The Network standards were issued but
the open without any treatment,” Hammad Naqi generated from water. The challenge is that while Year 2004 2025 their application was not mandatory. However,
Khan, Director Freshwater & Toxics Programme at the reciprocal relationship between water re- Availability 104 MAP 104 MAP they were not communicated to water suppli-
Source: Master Plan for Urban Pakistan. Final Report, Lahore:
World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Pakistan tells sources and power generation is critical, indus- Requirement (including drinking water) 115 MAP 135 MAP ers until campaigns were launched by the civil
society. u
Overall Shortfall 11 MAP 31 MAP Wastewater (Municipal and Industrial) Treatment Facilities in Engineering, Planning and Management Consultants, 2002
NGO World. trial discharge poses a serious threat to the qual-
Source: Ten Year Perspective Development Plan 2001 -11, Planning Commission Source: International Research Development Centre
Naqi says the figures are alarming. The ity of drinking water. Industries such as sugar,

30 - NGO World - Launch Issue 2007 www.ngoworld.pk www.ngoworld.pk Launch Issue 2007 - NGO World - 31

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