19 February 2004	Thursday	27 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 18: An estimated 975.771 million gallons of water goes waste annually in Pakistan, a country perpetually exposed to varied degrees of water crisis each year in the backdrop of long summer spells and fast depleting water resources.

The scenario, according to global data, is leading to a situation where Pakistan may be officially declared a 'water deficit country' by 2006. This is ironically in a situation where the very 975.771 million gallons, or 4.43 billion cubic meters (bcm), of waste water is sufficient enough to help generate five billion kilowatts of electricity, worth Rs21 billion, again in a country compelled to resort to loadshedding in hot, sweltering seasons.

To discuss the situation and come forward with concrete recommendations for re-use, recycling and adequate application of the essential commodity otherwise going dissipating at the cost of quality existence of masses and national economy.

A workshop on Re-use of City Effluents, was held here on Wednesday under the aegis of the Pakistan Water Partnership (PWP) in collaboration with the IUCN and Hisaar Foundation.

Speakers, including Mir Hussain Ali, DCO Karachi, Mirza Hamid Hasan, Chief Executive of the PWP, Amjad Habib, Project Manager of the KWSB, in their respective presentations, explicitly discussed the effluent issues in context of Pakistan as well as Karachi.

They reminded the audience that of the total 4.43bcm waste water produced in Pakistan, 3.060 bcm (674,009 million gallons) came from municipal and 1.370 bcm (301,752 million gallons) from industrial use.

The tremendous amount of waste water generated from the two sources, said Sardar Mohammad Tariq from PWP, was sufficient enough not only to generate electricity but a mere 60 per cent of the cited waste water, if adequately treated, could also irrigate vast tracts (estimated 6.9 million hectares) of land.

Mir Hussain Ali, in his presentation Broader Perspective of Effluents in Pakistan mentioned that 50 per cent i.e. no less than six million, people of Karachi were denied of potable water besides having no access to sanitation.

The DCO's observation was complemented by Amjad Habib of the KWSB who maintained that of the 315 million gallon daily (mgd) of sewerage generated in city from varied sources, only 90mgd could be treated while optimum design capacity of sewerage treatment plants in city was 151mgd.

Amjad Habib, on the occasion, also mentioned that expansion of sewage treatment capacity in Karachi was largely dependable on availability of resources.

Mirza Hamid Hasan, among other facts, particularly referred to contamination of river Indus and its distributaries due to agriculture practices and wastes. According to him, excessive use of pesticides, unsuitable cultivation and waterlogging and salinity were playing havoc with national economy as well as those dependent on agriculture.

Other speakers, in their presentations, regretted absence of a water conservation law in the country, lack of public awareness about the issue and importance of water recycling.

Limited operational authority on part of environment protection agencies and the procedure set for environmental tribunals was also viewed with deep concern.

Participants of the workshop represented environmental lawyers, Pakistan Tanners Association, KWSB, Defence Housing Authority, Karachi Port Trust, Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, Karachi City Government, IUCN, WWF, Pakistan Water Partnership, Organization of Water and Power, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, Sindh Planning and Development Department, National Drainage Programme, ASR International, Sindh Development Studies Centre, Women and Water Network, Basic Urban Services for Kutchi Abadis (Busti), National Institute of Oceanography and Hisaar Foundation.

They divided themselves into three different groups which came forward with their respective recommendation in accordance with Regulatory and Punitive Laws, Institutional Setup and Technical Options aimed at timely and efficient handling of the situation.

The group that discussed Technical Options referred to inadequate infrastructure and suggested modification and upgradation of the same suggesting that industrial and municipal effluents must be treated separately.

The group discussing Institutional Setup stressed the need for strengthening the KWSB and particularly enhancing its capability to cater reuse as well as marketing provisions of treated effluent.

Those who discussed the regulatory aspects of the issue were extremely critical of non-existent and non-functioning status of environment protection laws and the agencies authorized to guarantee the same.

Attributing the situation to lack of political will, they urged those at the helm of the affairs to ensure devolution of power in its true sense besides making the concerned law mandatory and not discretionary. -APP