RAWALPINDI, Jan 21: The Asian Development Bank has asked the Punjab government to approach federal authorities for stopping the discharge of Islamabad’s waste water into Leh drain.

ADB representative Shakeel Ahmad had conveyed to the Punjab Governor Lt-Gen (Rtd) Khalid Maqbool, at the inauguration ceremony of the Leh project, that discharge of the waste water into the drain would continue to become an environmental hazard even after the completion of the project.

If cannot be diverted, the water should at least be treated before releasing into the drain, he said.

Experts say the discharge of waste water is causing serious environmental problems as well as contamination of ground water.

The Capital Development Authority officials told this scribe that almost 1 million gallons of water is discharged daily into the Leh from Islamabad. Of the 1MGD, studies show, 0.25MGD is partially treated and 0.3MGD is untreated waste water.

A JICA study states that 90 per cent of potable water samples collected from areas along the Leh were found contaminated and unfit for human consumption.

Similarly, the samples collected from open ground water wells along Leh were invariably reported to contain Coliforms.

Health experts said the city’s water table at some places is equal to the level of water in Leh resulting in to frequent mixing of the two. “As a result, the potable water gets contaminated causing rapid spread of diseased,” they said. They maintained that Hepatitis was spreading in the city at an alarming rate due to the same reason.

A study conducted by the National University of Sciences and Technology had revealed that the nitrate content of the ground water in the city was high besides the presence of numerous other elements and microbes rendering it unfit for human consumption.

ANTI_ENCROACHMENT DRIVE: Meanwhile, the tehsil municipal administration is going to start a campaign against encroachments along Leh drain from February 1.