LAHORE, Aug 16: The Environment Protection Department (EPD) is undertaking a new project under its brown environment programme aimed at monitoring of surface water bodies across Punjab.

The provincial government has agreed to extend Rs30 million for the three-year project, Rs15 million during the current financial year, which will also include identification of pollution sources and proposing measures and guidelines for their protection, EPD officials say.

Under the project, the Environment Protection Agency, Punjab, will monitor water sources like rivers, lakes, canals and wetlands and characterize the quality of the waters.

It will also estimate various hydrological parameters and profiles of water bodies under various meteorological conditions like high and low flow seasons (monsoon and winter, respectively), and summer.

Evaluation of both organic and inorganic pollutants being disposed of in the surface water bodies is also included in the plan.

The executing agency will also be responsible for surface water quality modeling to control upstream pollution and recommend various stakeholders measures for mitigation of the same, like installing municipal wastewater and industrial effluent treatment plants.

It will also review national environmental quality standards (NEQS) for controlling heavy damages to surface water quality and aquatic life being caused by disposal of municipal as well as industrial effluents.

The reports thus prepared will be shared with other agencies concerned for preparing action plans to check deterioration of water bodies, and for public information and awareness about conservative use of water to reduce the pollution load on surface water resources, the officials say.