THE Combined Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in Kotri industrial area has not yet started treating industrial effluent even after an expenditure close to Rs800 million on its establishment.

The plant was outsourced by the Kotri Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) but the contractor ended the contract owing to financial issues.

Resultantly, untreated effluent continues to be released into Kalri Baghar feeder, an off-take canal of the Kotri barrage which supplies drinking water to Keenjhar Lake. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) lifts water from the lake to meet drinking water needs of the provincial capital.

The Keenjhar Lake is a vital source of drinking water for Karachi while the Kalri Baghar feeder is supplies drinking water to Thatta district and services the agriculture sector.

Industry sources point out that financial constraints led to the termination of the contract. When outsourced, the monthly project cost was around Rs6m which included Rs4m recurring cost and Rs2m miscellaneous expenses (such as electricity).

Since the falling-out with the contractor in January 2018, KATI has been managing the project on its own.

Effluent continues to enter Keenjhar Lake, KWSB lifts water from the lake to meet drinking water needs of the provincial capital

Former KATI chairman Mian Tauqeer Tariq said that out of 18 different parameters that determine the quality of industrial effluent only seven were being met. “Three vital parameters have not been met to ensure that effluent is fully treated before it is released in the irrigation channel,” he remarked.

“CETP still needs plenty of work to make it fully functional”, Tariq added. He said that the plant is currently undergoing the bacteriological growth process that is essential to treat effluent and once that is done Sindh environmental quality standards will be met.

“Currently, chemical oxygen demand (COD) at inlet is 2200mg/l and 1000mg/l at outlet, indicating a further need for adjustment,” he said.

Sources say that plant operation expenses are billed to industrial units based on whether the concerned unit’s effluent is being treated within or whether untreated wastewater ends up directly in the CETP. They regret the huge delays in payment by industrialists.

CETP can treat 2.5MGD of effluent. It currently receives effluent from 157 industrial units of Kotri’s Site area.

The establishment of more units are underway in phase-II of Kotri Site. The Site’s second phase, an industrialist fears, is likely to have industrial units that would potentially release hazardous effluent; and unless in-house treatment plants are established untreated wastewater will go into KB feeder unchecked.

“Out of 157, only 18 units in phase-I of Kotri Site have internal treatment plants. The rest release untreated wastewater”, a KATI source said, adding that CETP gets the agriculture sector’s runoff as well of pesticide residue used for paddy crop cultivation.

Recently, the Supreme Court appointed a judicial commission on sanitation and clean water in Sindh — headed by Justice (rtd) Amir Hani Muslim — who in turn had appointed a three member committee under the chairmanship of Sindh irrigation secretary Jamal Mustafa Syed. The committee visited had CETP on April 4 to check the quality of treated effluent.

“Quality of effluent received at inlet and outlet sources remains almost the same. Wastewater treated in CETP doesn’t meet the parameters of SEQS”, Arain says.

CETP, according to him, gets heavy sludge and tremendous quantum of mud. The channel that carries effluent needs to be lined and de-silted.

Jamal Mustafa Syed, as the task force chairman appointed by the SC, submitted effluent samples collected at inlet and outlet points to the commission highlighting that the outlet result was blacker then that received at inlet.

Syed states the CETP has design faults which can be seen once the project cost (PC-I) — a document that contains minute details of the project — is studied.

According to the PC-I, there should have three aerobic tanks while only two exist on ground and there is no provision of pre-settlement with the result that sludge is finding its way directly into the plant.

“No change in quality of effluent is seen. Important components like equaliser tanks are not working. There is no partitioning within plant for adequate treatment and its sludge thickening process not functional”, he says.

After submission of the committee’s findings the judicial commission got another independent plant evaluation done through experts from the NED University, Karachi. They visited CEP Kotri and are said to have submitted their report before the judicial commission, recommending a revisit of the CETP design.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 19th, 2018