HYDERABAD, Feb 19: The test of sample of water containing industrial waste and being disposed of in Kalri Baghar (KB) feeder, supplying drinking water to Karachi and Kotri, have revealed a high value of chemical oxygen demand (COD) which may affect oxygen within body.

Dr Mohammad Ahsan Siddiqui of the National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry of University of Sindh had taken one sample of industrial effluent.

According to Dr. Siddiqui, he checked 17 parameters of effluent which included Ph value, partial alkalinity, total alkalinity, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphate, COD (chemical oxygen demand), sulphate, total dissolved solids, conductivity, turbidity, colour, odour and chlorides.

“The value of COD is very high and odour of effluent was very bad”, he said as he found 2376 milligram (mg) per litre of COD in the sample against the normal limits of 400 mg. Likewise, he said, total alkalinity was recorded at 900 mg per litre against 500, total dissolved solids at 2,900 mg against EPA's recommended 1500-2500 mg. He said that conductivity was found at 5,600 against 3000-3,500.

Elaborating COD, Mr Siddiqui said that it trapped or affected level of oxygen in human body because COD's presence showed presence of organic compound in the sample. “You can assume that limit of COD can reduce oxygen in our body”, he stated categorically.He said that he would once again take samples of effluent from all the six ponds after waste is released into them to note changes in quality of effluent when it travels from one pond to the other before finally disposing it into the KB feeder.

“The industries need to properly and scientifically analyse waste being discharged from industrial units and they can be neutralised before being discharged into any source of fresh water”, he said. He said that analysis of effluent from facultative/oxidation ponds would show whether any changes were taking place in their quality or they remained unchanged even after water stayed in six different ponds.

He was quite apprehensive about quality of KB's feeder water, saying it would turn Kalri Lake into another Manchhar in next decade.

According to Kotri SITE Chief Engineer Mohammad Bux Soomro, around two cusec of industrial waste was being disposed of into KB feeder after permission from relevant quarters.

Earlier, disposal of waste was stopped following reservations expressed by the Environmental Protection Agency). The industrialists claim that effluent gets natural treatment when it is released into oxidation pond before being released into KB feeder.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held in the Jamshoro DCO's office which was attended by representatives of SITE, Kotri Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), EPA, Kotri taluka nazim and EDO revenue to discuss the issue.

The meeting did not take any decision to suspend release of industrial water into KB feeder.