Reforms in Wasa, fresh water for lake proposed - Report on water contamination
By Our Correspondent
HYDERABAD, Dec 2: The chief minister's inquiry committee on water contamination has recommended in its report that inlet sources of the Manchhar Lake
- Danster and Aral Wahs - should only be made operational when water flow in the River Indus is more than 40,000 cusecs.
The report says it should be decided whether Manchhar can be fed through the Rice Canal and the irrigation department should prepare a scheme for feeding the lake through any of the Sukkur Barrage's canal system.
It calls for release of sufficient quantity of fresh water into Manchhar to reduce contamination in the lake. The Right Bank Outfall Drains needs early completion to stop flow of saline water into the lake.
Structural reforms are needed in technical/maintenance divisions of the Water and Sanitation Agency. To avoid such a crisis in future, the four-member committee proposes formation of a high-powered body under the chairmanship of the Sindh chief secretary to decide the issues.
Funds should be approved and released without delay for Wasa schemes and its dues against different departments should be deducted at source. The allocation for the laboratory of Wasa should be increased and a contingency plan should be prepared to avert such a situation, the recommendations further say.
The report also calls for formation of another committee, headed by the Sindh additional chief secretary, local government, with the secretary for irrigation, district nazims of Hyderabad and Dadu and the secretary for health as its members, to take decisions in emergency situations.
The report urges the Environmental Protection Agency and the irrigation department to check inflows of industrial and municipal waste into water channels.
A standard operational procedure should be formulated for release of saline water from the Manchhar Lake through the Aral tail regulator into the Indus so that it is opened only when necessary and such a decision be taken in consultation with local governments, HDA and the irrigation department.
The committee suggests efforts to improve water supply and drainage systems by supporting Wasa financially. Though the report discusses the role of the HDA, Wasa and the irrigation department, none of them has been held responsible for the crisis that hit the city in May-July.
It however says that interviews with officers of the irrigation department and other evidence show that gates of the Aral tail regulator were opened with knowledge and orders/ approval of Bashir Ahmad Dahar, then secretary for irrigation, and the power department.
However, no district government was informed and there is no precedent or practice of informing any department/ agency regarding opening of exit gates of Manchhar to release water into the Indus. There are no instructions/rules that release of water from the lake into the Indus should be reported to Wasa or other quarters.
The report says the irrigation department does not have any system to test water quality before release of Manchhar water into the river. The irrigation department duties do not make it responsible to supply drinking water directly to people. The system of testing of water at the Wasa laboratory is neither regular nor taken up seriously.
It says contaminated water should not have been pumped into lagoons and available water should have been utilized for next seven days. To contain the gravity of the situation, rationing could have made the water sufficient for around 15 days.
Once the Wasa laboratory confirmed that water was unfit for human consumption, the agency did not respond to the crisis according to its severity. The committee was not satisfied with irrigation officers' answers to queries and regarding exact quantity of discharged water.
The report says: "The committee having considered legal position on one hand and facts on the other, came to conclusion that though the whole chain of command, starting from the executive engineer concerned to the secretary for irrigation, is responsible for releasing water from the Manchhar Lake into the river, none of them have had any inkling about such contamination or its effects. There are no rules making officers responsible for testing of water."
