HYDERABAD: A three-member committee has recommended that the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II (RBOD) and Nai Gajj dam projects be completed at the earliest and freshwater inflows from the under-construction dam to the lake be increased to help revive Manchhar lake, which has become highly contaminated by upcountry effluents.

The committee headed by the Hyderabad commissioner was formed by Sindh chief secretary in the light of a directive of Supreme Court passed on Aug 30 in the Manchhar lake contamination suo motu case. The committee prepared a report, containing a set of recommendations, which the chief secretary submitted to the SC on Sept 9.

The report obtained by Dawn recommended an increase of 50 cusecs (100 cusecs instead of 50 cusecs as earlier proposed) of freshwater to be released from the dam into the lake and release of funds for early completion of the dam.

The committee paid field visits and inspected reverse osmosis (RO) plants which were installed by Wapda to treat the lake’s contaminated water and make it drinkable for the population dependent on the lake for their basic needs.

The Special Initiative Department (SID) had installed 21 RO plants of which nine were functioning and 12 required additional equipment or civil works. Even the so called ‘functional’ plants faced issues of maintenance, said the report.

It said that Sindh irritation department had inherited 16 RO plants from Wapda and all were in working condition. The project directorate of RBOD under irrigation department installed 13 RO plants of which eight were operational but the level of total dissolved solids (TDS) in four of the eight plants was found to be on higher side. Five RO plants were non-functional due to minor faults which could be rectified, it said.

It said that RBOD had a budgetary provision for 157 villages of Jamshoro and 21 villages of Dadu districts. Such villages could be clustered and common RO plants could be installed. The RO plants installation in 178 villages could be sponsored by irrigation department and maintained by its Shahbaz division, Sehwan, it said.

The report said that RO plants of SID could be completed in specified period of not more than two months. If a contractor took more than that period he might be blacklisted and legal action might be taken against him, it said.

It suggested that non-functioning plants could be made functional after necessary repairs and handed over to the irrigation department for regular upkeep. Since frequent power breakdowns caused damage to sensitive electrical installations, the plants should be run by solar energy and the irrigation department should be tasked with their upkeep, it said.

The committee made some recommendations for the lake’s revival as a freshwater body which it once used to be and said that such recommendations were made in consideration of facts that the present state of the lake was not fit for aquatic life. Given these conditions, people might shift to other areas in desperation if the source of their livelihood continued to diminish, the report warned.

It said that Main Nara Valley Drain (MNVD) or RBOD-I brought effluents from Balochistan and Qambar-Shahdadkot district which fell into it at Faridabad point and ultimately entered Manchhar lake at zero point.

“This has to be diverted to the RBOD system through what is called Indus Link. This diversion, which is otherwise already complete, can be made functional if the RBOD is completed up till its final disposal into Arabian Sea. For this purpose, the Sindh government may provide adequate funds immediately for the early completion of the project,” it said.

It said that Wapda was constructing Nai Gajj dam that blocked huge freshwater inflows to the lake and to mitigate its impact, Wapda had submitted a revised PC-I to Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, proposing 50 cusecs of continuous piped water supply to the lake from the dam.

The federal government should be asked to approve the revised PC-I and provide funds for the early completion of the dam, it said and recommended that freshwater intake from the dam should be increased to 100 cusecs.

The committee co-opted Dr Ahsan Siddiqui, water technologist and gathered detailed findings on the status of RO plants as per terms of references (ToRs).

It observed that RO plants being looked after by the irrigation department were generally found to be in a satisfactory condition but those of SID required equipment or major repairs for effective working.

The report recommended installation of new RO plants with the irrigation department as sponsoring agency and said that Shahbaz division be tasked with their upkeep.

It proposed that the fisheries department should be asked to release one million fish seedlings into the lake which were expected to survive as the lake’s TDS level at this point in time was found to be ‘greatly improved’.

Published in Dawn September 11th, 2016