No sewer line from Thokar Niaz Baig to Mohalanwal Bridge

[Salman]

No sewer line from Thokar Niaz Baig to Mohalanwal Bridge

Wastewater being drained into Lahore Canal

LAHORE: The delay on part of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) in installing main trunk sewer line to channel wastewater of over 13 housing societies as well as the industrial units from Thokar Niaz Baig to Mohalanwal Bridge is creating serious environmental hazards for the citizens, Daily Times has learnt.

Owing to the absence of a sewer line, these societies and industrial units were discharging their wastewater directly into the Lahore Canal and subsoil of the area.

Talking to Daily Times, Environment Protection Department (EPD) Secretary Saeed Iqbal Walah said it was the responsibility of WASA and Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to arrange environmentally sound treatment and disposal of wastewater in the area.

He said that the district officials of the EPD had conducted a survey of these housing societies, industrial units and other entities discharging untreated wastewater into Lahore Canal. The survey revealed that a majority of the housing societies had pits in their respective areas, which was very dangerous because these pits were polluting the underground water in the area.

Walah said that the department had issued several Environment Orders (EPOs) to WASA officials, asking them to install a main trunk sewer line in the said locality but to no avail. He said that the department had issued a final EPO to the WASA and in case the order was not complied with, a case would be filed against it in the Environmental Tribunal for the implementation of these orders.

A senior environment expert, Rafay, said that wastewater that was seeping into the subsoil was bound to take its toll on the environment since it might take over a hundred years to purify the underground water of the area.

He said wastewater was also seeping into underground water pipelines and the resultant water coming out of the pipes could cause bone deformation, liver and stomach diseases among the consumers. He said the government should install a trunk sewer line in the locality on an immediate basis or else the resulting disaster would be irreversible.

When contacted, WASA MD Dr Javed Iqbal said that the department was already working on installation of the sewer line, however, unavailability of funds had become the main reason of delay in the project’s completion. He said the LDA had received a specific amount from all private societies situated at Thokar Niaz Baig but those funds were only 10 percent of the total cost of sewer line’s installation. He said that he had requested the Punjab government for provision of funds for this project, adding that work on the project would soon be reinitiated.