LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed to strictly implement the ban on use of sewage to grow vegetables, and committed to formally legislate on the practice soon.

The chief minister on Wednesday tweeted to express concern over the usage of sewage for growing vegetables that he said was hazardous to human health.

He ordered a crackdown on all those involved in playing with the lives of people. He stated that water treatment and storage projects would soon be launched in cities and villages to control water pollution.

Continuing his twitter thread, the chief minister said the government was also planning to test the river and canal water. He also directed the fisheries and irrigation department to examine the feed being used for fish in farms set up in potable water dams. He instructed that no hazardous chemicals should be mixed in that water.

The chief minister’s tweets came after he chaired a meeting at his office on Wednesday to review various proposals about the installation of wastewater treatment plants and reutilisation of the wastewater.

At the meeting, Mr Buzdar stated that different ailments were increasing in Lahore and other cities due to the cultivation of vegetables through impure water. He said water reservoirs would be developed in the city to save rainwater.

“The reservoirs will be developed in Shadbagh, Shahdara, Babu Sabu, Mehmood Booti, Bund Road and other places where rainwater will be stored in greenbelts to improve underground water level,” he added.

The chief minister said the rainwater treatment plants would be set up in phases in different tehsils of the province. Similarly, recycling plants for ablution water and car washing will also be set up in collaboration with the private sector to reutilise the recycled water. Surface water treatment plants would be established to improve the underground water level.

At the meeting, the chief minister was told that 600 million gallons of water were being wasted and going down the drain daily.

The planning and development chairman, the commissioner and deputy commissioner, LDA vice chairman and director general, administrative secretaries and others attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2020