KARACHI, April 24: The Sindh Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has set up a team to investigate how a drain feeding the Keenjhar Lake recently got contaminated with toxic material.
The team comprising deputy director of Sepa, water technologist Dr Ahsan Siddiqui and technical experts of the organisation would visit the site once laboratory reports of the samples collected from the site are available.
Speaking to Dawn, Sepa director-general Rafiuddin said that officials of the relevant departments visited the site on Monday and found no apparent source of contamination.
“We can’t point fingers at anyone without having concrete evidence. That’s why we are waiting for the result of the samples’ reports,” he said, adding that a notice had been issued for alleged contamination to the Fauji Fertiliser Company running a windmill power project at the site.
“That seems to be the only activity going on in the area, though one could not rule out the possibility that someone might have thrown contaminated material into the drain. As for the lead contamination at the lake, it seems that it has occurred because visitors often wash their vehicles near the lake. Besides, there is a godown containing old machinery, but that is located far away from the lake,” he said.
Meanwhile, the samples collected from the site are still being analysed at different laboratories, including the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Relations, and results would be available in a day or two.
