KARACHI, July 18: The director general, Environmental Protection Agency, Sindh, Mohammad Younus Dagha, has issued show-cause notices to different industries located in the SITE, Kotri , as their effluents were found exceeding the National Environmental Quality Standard (NEQS), prescribed under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Act-1997.

The notice is significant with regard to public health issue, as the untreated effluents discharged directly into the Kotri Barrage Feeder (K B Feeder) pollute the water supplied to the people from Kotri to Karachi. The water reaches the Karachiites further passing through Keenjhar from the K B Feeder.

It may also be pertinent to remind the outbreak of diarrhoea and related fatal infections due to consumption of contaminated water by inhabitants of Hyderabad and surrounding areas in May this year.

The Sindh EPA, during it routine detailed monitoring of the industries located at Kotri SITE, to check their level of compliance to the NEQS, as prescribed under the PEPA-1997, had collected a wide range of water samples from the area.

Laboratory analysis of the samples of effluent discharged by the industries revealed that some of these were exceeding the NEQS limits. Sindh EPA DG Mr Dagha, thus taking strong note of the situation, issued notices to these industries seeking explanation as why the Environmental Protection Order (EPO), under the PEPA-1997, must not be issued against them. -APP