KARACHI: SEPA testing water for quality management
KARACHI, Nov 25: The Adviser to Chief Minister on Environment and Alternative Energy, Noman Saigol, on Thursday visited the laboratories of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).
He met senior officials and specialists at SEPA and inspected the ongoing activities of water quality monitoring project. A statement of SEPA on Thursday said that during the visit, Noman Saigol met all the project staff and physically checked collected samples and equipment. He also checked the chain of custody documents and inquired about progress on the project.
The Director SEPA, Iqbal Nafees Khan, and water quality specialist Dr Abdul Haleem Khan apprised the adviser of the project's details. He was informed that SEPA had completed a pilot water quality project in 2002.
From the project's results, it was concluded that a good volume of liquid was being thrown into the Indus River, with most of it coming from the upcountry. In this regard, the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) classified the Indus River as 'seriously polluted'.
Based on the results, SEPA had initiated a project for monitoring water quality in the province for all seasons throughout the year. S.M. Yahya, Senior Scientific Officer, SEPA, informed that samples being collected from 30 identified locations of the province, and each sample was being analyzed using 28 parameters, which included pesticides, heavy metals, microbiological, physical and chemical parameters.
It was stated that internationally recommended procedures had been adopted for tests, and the highest level of care was being taken under the supervision of senior experts. The detailed survey of pollution level at the K.B. Feeder was also included in the project, which was expected to start from next month.
The Director General of SEPA, Shafique Ahmed Khoso, briefed the adviser about the collection of baseline date, situation analysis and impact assessment. He also briefed about the rapid detection of faults and failures as well as the protection of human health. Khoso also shed light on the assessment of environmental changes and trends.
Expressing his satisfaction over the project, Mr Saigol directed that the project be completed with utmost care to achieve targets within the stipulated period. He also asked Khoso to conduct a seminar after the project's completion to disseminate knowledge and data collected from the project among the stakeholders.
The adviser also suggested that the functionaries of water management organisations be invited to the workshop to refresh their knowledge and update them about quality water management so that incidents like that of Hyderabad do not happen again. - APP
