RAWALPINDI, April 13: The Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pepa) has decided to periodically inject activated carbon into the water of Rawal Lake in the catchment area to neutralize the alarming level of pollution.

Funds for the programme would be allocated by the ministry of science and technology, officials in the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) told Dawn. The decision was taken by the Rawal Lake Catchment Management Committee (RLCMC) in its second meeting held in Islamabad recently.

The RLCMC members included officials of Wasa, Pepa, Rawalpindi Development Authority, Capital Development Authority (CDA), Small Dams Organization and Punjab Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

The meeting decided to take action against those who were causing contamination in the lake by violating the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997. The meeting directed Wasa to carry out chemical and biological analysis of the lake water. The SDO was asked to direct poultry farms to burn their waste instead of discharging them into the lake.

EPA was entrusted with the responsibility of stopping construction activities in the catchment area which has been declared as national park. Pepa representative told the meeting that they had four inspectors at provincial level for controlling pollution but had no such official at the federal capital.

The CDA representative said the authority had an environmental monitoring department, but it has no power to impose penalty on any one polluting environment.

It was also decided that the CDA and Islamabad capital territory administration would control all unplanned construction activities in the Rawal Lake catchment area within the framework of Margalla Hills National Park Management Plan, ICT Zoning Regulation and Islamabad Preservation and Landscape Rules.

The CDA was also directed not to issue any NOC for electricity, telephone, gas and water supply connections to those residential colonies in the catchment area which had no septic tanks of their own. The Punjab tourism department was directed to provide proper waste disposal facilities at Chattar Park to discourage throwing of waste into Korang River.