KARACHI: Members of Sindh Assembly’s Provincial Parliamentary Taskforce on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the non-functioning of the affluent treat plants in the entire province, which is posing a great danger to the people’s health.

They also emphasized the need for measures to control the leakage of Methane gas from the LNG terminals around Karachi coast. The provincial assembly members were speaking at a meeting of the Provincial Parliamentary Taskforce on SDG at the Sindh Assembly building. Chairman of the Taskforce Pir Mujeeb ul Haque presided over the meeting, which was also attended by Saeed Afridi, MPA; Ms Farhat Seemi, MPA; Ms Kalsoom Chandio, MPA; Shahzad Qureshi, MPA; Arsalan Taj, MPA; Ms Ghazala Siyal, MPA; Heer Soho, MPA; ex-MPA Sumita Afzaal and other government officers.

The Director-General of Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Naeem Ahmed Mughal told the meeting that an estimated 470 million gallons per day (mgd) industrial and municipal waste from Karachi is directly disposed of into the sea without any treatment. Out of that, 80 per cent is sewerage and 20 per cent is industrial waste.

The government has planned to install seven combined effluent treatment (CET) plants in the city’s industrial zones, but none of the CET plants is working. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) is the implementation agency for CET plants as SEPA has a regulatory role.

Similarly, he pointed out that the situation in other major cities of Sindh is even worse where industrial and municipal sewerage water is directly disposed of in River Indus or its canals. All municipal and industrial sewage form generated from Hyderabad city is directly disposed of into Phuleli canal or Indus River without any treatment. Similarly, the industrial effluent from the industries of Kotri is put into KB Feeder, which is supply drinking water via Keenjhar lake to Karachi.

According to him, the SEPA has closed down many industries, which are not following environmental standards. He gave an example of a cement factory in the Nooribad industrial area, which was closed down for two months and when it installed an air treatment plant, then SEPA was allowed to operate.

He said the SEPA is trying to implement Environmental Quality Standards in industries and no new industry is allowed without the installation of treatment plants. During the last three years, 209 treatment plants have been installed in the industries in Karachi and 50 more water wastewater treatment plants are being installed.

The Chairman of the Taskforce Peer Mujeeb asked the SEPA chief to give a detailed presentation to the members of the Assembly. Earlier, in a presentation, environmental expert Nasir Panhwar said that Pakistan is on the list of 5th most vulnerable countries to climate change, in particular water scarcity and extreme events.

According to him over the past decade, damages and losses resulting from natural disasters in Pakistan have exceeded the US Dollar 18 billion. Sindh is facing environmental challenges due to climate change, he said adding that sea level along the Karachi coast has risen approximately 10 centimeters in the last century and is expected to further rise by 60 centimeters by the end of the century.

Similarly, low-lying coastal areas in are Indus Delta are facing sea intrusion, which has destroyed millions of acres of the land. He said a Climate Change Policy has been drafted, but still, it is not approved. Ms Zeenia Shaukat, Director of The Knowledge Forum (TKF) about 80 per cent of the country’s energy comes from fossil fuel-based means whereas very little attention is paid to generating energy from renewables.

She pointed out that persistent events such as heatwaves, regular flash floods, reduction in water resources and dwindling agriculture resources emphasize the need for stronger institutional action on climate change. Another environmental expert Jameel Junejo said that due to the shortage of natural gas in the country, the government is developing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals to supply gas via pipes to different parts of the country. Two LNG terminals have been developed and five are under construction.

LNG is considered an environmentally safe fuel, but when it is handled and converted from liquid shape to gas for supply through pipes, methane gas is leaked, which is dangerous for the environment. According to him, Methane gas leakage is more dangerous for the environment and human health than the emission coming out from other fossil fuel plants. In the energy mix, Pakistan is producing only 3 per cent of energy from renewables, whereas at least 30 per cent of energy should be produced from renewables.