PCRWR laboratory in city unable to carry out monitoring

Published May 23, 2019
The PCRWR laboratory, which assisted the water commission, is currently non-functional.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
The PCRWR laboratory, which assisted the water commission, is currently non-functional.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

KARACHI: The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) laboratory in Karachi — which assisted the Supreme Court-mandated Water Commission by producing credible water and effluent analysis reports, none of which was ever challenged by any stakeholders including the government — has been dysfunctional for the past several months, sources told Dawn.

Consequently, they said, no monitoring work as directed by the commission could be carried out.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a PCRWR staffer said that they had not been paid salaries since 2016 due to which 16 PCRWR labs (out of a total of 24) across Pakistan were non-functional.

“More than 140 PCRWR employees have been waiting for regularisation for many years. The matter has been raised many times at different forums, but to no avail. At present, the Karachi lab lacks the required technical staff and chemicals to carry out any analysis,” said a staff member.

The PCRWR staff was paid honorarium by the water commission for their two-year services, he added.

Extensive analysis

The PCRWR Karachi laboratory on the instructions of the water commission conducted a detailed water quality analysis work across the province. This included upgrade of the Water and Sanitation Authority (Hyderabad) and the labs run by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board; assessment of the quality of drinking water being supplied to Karachi as well as in the interior of Sindh through different canals, river, reverse osmosis plants, ultrafiltration plants, rapid sand filtration plants and water supply schemes; assessment of wastewater; assessment of drinking water to all major hospitals and schools and monitoring of a combined effluent treatment plant in Kotri, sewage treatment plants in Shaheed Benazirabad district, a treatment plant in Mauripur, Karachi, sugar mill industries and distilleries.

Karachi lab lacks the required technical staff and chemicals to carry out any analysis

The PCRWR-Karachi, which also engaged its staff at other units located in Sukkur, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Badin and Tandojam to carry out water sampling, also submitted detailed reports on respective industrial installations, suggesting short- , mid- and long-term measures required for effluent treatment.

These reports later formed the basis of a long list of directives/recommendations the commission gave to all stakeholders, including the government, which was forced to act and make commitments on various projects.

The PCRWR Karachi lab also facilitated university students in their research.

No monitoring

The commission, however, had directed the PCRWR to continue its monitoring work. “In order to regularly test the quality of water in all government hospitals all over Sindh through an independent source, Fazlullah Pechuho has proposed that the Pakistan Council of Water of Research in Water Resources may be involved. Shahab Usto, advocate and petitioner, has supported this proposal. Dr Ghulam Murtaza, a senior research officer at the PCRWR, is assigned the task.

“Mr Pechuho, secretary for health, undertakes to officially pay the PCRWR for services rendered by it in this regard. Let the needful be done. This arrangement shall continue till further orders,” the commission had observed on Oct 7, 2017.

Similar instructions were given in the case of treatment plants, sugar mills and distilleries.

In January this year, the commission in its final report submitted to the Supreme Court again talked about monitoring while issuing directives to the KWSB. “Improve the quality of drinking water to meet the international health standards by refurbishing and updating the existing water filtration plants through close monitoring; the task of water quality monitoring can be assigned to the PCRWR after proper evaluation and fulfilment of codal formalities.”

Regretting the PCRWR’s affairs, Shahab Usto, senior advocate whose petition in 2016 led the Supreme Court to establish a commission to investigate the poor state of water and sewage disposal in Sindh, said that right now the government was under no pressure to perform and fulfil its commitments made to the commission.

“The commission no longer exists while no monitoring process is under way to see whether commitments made by various stakeholders are being met,” he said, adding that civil society and the media should take up this issue.

An asset that might go to waste

Sharing how the regularisation issue emerged and affected the employees, sources said the PCRWR water testing labs were established in 2006 in 24 cities with a National Water Quality Control Laboratory in Islamabad as part of a project titled Provision of Safe Drinking Water.

The staff under this project was initially appointed in 2006-2007 under prescribed criteria. Those having MPhil and PhD degrees also received training within the country and abroad on water quality & water management and provided services to the government and non-government agencies, including the WHO, Unicef, IUCN and Unesco.

“The need to regularise the staff was felt when the project concluded in 2010. However, the staff was provided extension for five years. In 2015, all paperwork was almost approved for according regularization, but an objection raised by someone in the ministry of science and technology brought all efforts to a naught,” said an official.

According to him, the matter has been in a limbo for four years despite struggle of the affected employees who also sought legal intervention.

When contacted, Dr Mohammad Aslam Tahir, chairman of the PCRWR, said that he had taken up the issue with the ministry of science and technology.

“These employees are an asset for the country as they are well-qualified and the government has invested in their training. I’m hopeful that the government would respond to it positively,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019

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