IEDC-2010 Conference Proceedings (Download ... - NED University

The rapid growth of Punjab's cities and industrial areas has been insufficiently planned. Raw sewage and
urban solid waste are dumped into drainage channels, local streams and rivers. Inadequate or poorly
enforced controls allow factories to dispose of their emissions and waste products without regard for their
effects on Punjab's air, water and soil resources (EPA Punjab, 1989; Tariq, 1990). The degree of pollution
in natural streams is becoming critical. For example, the River Ravi near the city of Lahore has become so
polluted that hardly any oxygen is found in the water during the low flow winter season; this has led to
the disappearance of all aquatic life (Maqsood, 1996; ADB, 1997).
A general perception exists among both the general public and the governmental agencies that industries
are the main cause of environmental degradation contributing towards general pollution and water
pollution in natural streams in particular (Tariq, 1990). The government‘s attitude is evident in its efforts
for towards pollution control, which focus on industrial polluters only. This attitude is evident from
governmental press releases and statements related to the environment made by politicians and
government officials. Environmental features in the printed media also only stress control of pollution
arising from industry. Scientific studies on the state of the environment in Punjab are few in number and
tend to be sector and/or location specific. It is very difficult to draw any conclusions about what is
causing environmental degradation at the regional level.
In order to determine the relative share of industry in regional environmental degradation, pollution
discharges from both industry and domestic sources were estimated. The rest of this article is divided into
four sections. Section 2 summarizes the research work done so far on the state of the environment in
Punjab. Section 3 includes estimates of the relative contributions of the industrial and domestic sectors to
water pollution. Section 4 summarizes some other pieces of information that support the findings of Sect.
3. Finally, in Sect. 5 conclusions are drawn on the main cause of water pollution in the province.
2. Studies on the State of the Environment in Punjab
Pakistan is a poorly developed country with a very low literacy rate. In addition, it has very few experts in
the field of environmental engineering/science. These are the reasons for the lack of studies on the state of
environment in Punjab.
The Institute of Public Health Engineering and Research (IPHER) of the University of Engineering and
Technology, Lahore, pioneered the evaluation of environmental degradation in the 1970s (their work
highlighted the problems but made little effort to link them to their causes). In the 1980s the
Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) were instituted at both the national and the provincial levels,
and they also carried out environmental evaluation. The sanitation agencies of Lahore, the provincial
capital, have assisted in studies of the volume of wastewater and its organic load entering the River Ravi
(the ultimate receiver of all domestic and industrial wastewater from the city of Lahore and its suburbs).
The World Bank financed a study called the ―Punjab Urban Environmental Project‖ in 1992-93 (World
Bank, 1993), which was mainly conducted by the Environmental Engineering Division of the National
Engineering Services Pakistan. The Asian Development Bank funded a study at the national level on the
―Implementation of the National Conservation Strategy‖ in 1996-97 (ADB, 1997), which discussed some
aspects of the state of the environment in Punjab. In addition, some minor studies have been carried out
by a few graduate students studying abroad (Maqsood, 1996).
Most of these studies were location specific and focused on the city of Lahore and the stretch of the River
Ravi near Lahore. This is understandable, as Lahore is the focal point of all educational, administrative,
commercial and industrial activities in Punjab. A number of industrial clusters are located within a
other agricultural products. Other locations that have been studied are major urban-industrial centers such
as Faisalabad and Multan.
Proceedings of IEDC 2010, 1-3 July, 2010
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IEDC-113-042