Is uncooked sewage being launched at Karachi’s Seaview, Sepa informed to seek out out – Pakistan

KARACHI: The Sindh Excessive Court docket on Tuesday directed the Sindh Environmental Safety Company (Sepa) to hold out an inspection of Seaview to seek out out whether or not or not untreated uncooked sewage was being discharged into the ocean and what measures the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) had up to now taken to stop contamination of seawater.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi additionally requested Sepa to tell it in regards to the standing of a sewage remedy plant reportedly put in by the CBC.

When the bench took up for listening to a petition filed by some non-governmental organisations in 2017 towards dumping of commercial waste into the ocean, the counsel for the petitioners filed an announcement together with some photos about contamination on the Seaview seashore.

Sepa’s deputy director (legislation) Habib-ur-Rehman Solangi sought a duplicate of the petition and time to file feedback.

“Deputy director (legislation), Sepa current in courtroom is directed to hold out an inspection of the topic space to establish as to from what number of locations the economic waste/sewerage (non-treated water) is being dumped into sea and what steps have been taken by respondent No.1 [CBC] to stop such contamination of sea water, and likewise to establish that remedy plant reportedly constructed at seashore Seaview close to Chunky Monkey is operational or not,” the bench ordered.

SHC seeks complete report on CBC measures taken to stop contamination of sea

The courtroom additionally sought a complete report together with volumetric measurement of the quantity of discharge of commercial and home waste with suggestions to take care of the purity stage of the seawater as per worldwide requirements and aquatic/marine life eco-system.

Adjourning the listening to until April 5, the bench directed the respondents to affiliate all involved events and related businesses in the course of the inspection so {that a} complete report on this regard should be submitted for an additional order by the courtroom to make sure implementation of the suggestions in accordance with legislation.

On the final listening to, the CBC had knowledgeable the SHC that the Defence Housing Authority had constructed a sewage remedy plant (Kublai Khan STP) at Abdul Sattar Edhi Avenue in April 2021 and the sump pump working on the identical place.

The CBC in its report additional maintained that the capability of the STP was two million gallon per day (MGD) and the present stream into the plant was 0.40 MGD and with a purpose to utilise its most capability, the CBC was going to finish a sewerage line by March 31, 2023 connecting Sewerage Pumping Station (SPS-I Saba Cross, Muhafiz) and SPS-2 (twenty sixth Cross Muhafiz) Section-VI with SPS-8, Section-V, which might launch sewage having stream of 1.50 MGD within the STP and finally the ocean would take handled sewage of those pumping stations.

The World Huge Fund for Nature and another NGOs had petitioned the SHC in 2017 towards dumping of sewage and industrial waste into the ocean.

Citing the CBC, DHA, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board and Karachi Metropolitan Company as respondents, the petitioners had knowledgeable the SHC that the ocean was being polluted by the sewage at Seaview.

Revealed in Daybreak, March 1st, 2023