The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration decided on Monday to install a sewage treatment plant in the catchments areas of the Rawal Lake.
“In a meeting, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Tariq Mahmood Pirzada decided to install the treatment plant. The CDA will immediately connect the sewage water pipelines of Noor Pur Shahan with the already passing trunk line,” said a press release issued by the commissioner’s office.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Commissioner Pirzada and attended by EPA DG Asif Shujah Khan, CDA Engineering member Sanaullah, CDA Planning DG Sarwar Sindhu, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed and other senior officials of the city administration and WASA, Rawalpindi.
The commissioner said the purpose of meeting with all the stakeholders was to expedite the implementation plan for ensuring the provision of clean drinking water to the residents.
He also constituted a committee to be headed by Asif Shujah Khan with members from the ICTA, CDA and WASA to work out the pollution load of the catchments areas falling in Punjab, as well as the pollution generated in the ICT and CDA areas and to submit their report for approval.
He also directed that the draft of PC-1 for the action plan for ensuring that the Rawal Lake water was pollution free, should be improved after the committee conducted a survey of the water in the catchments.
It was decided during the meeting that the Punjab government, ICT and CDA will pool their resources according to the pollution load generated in their respective areas.
CDA Engineering member Sanaullah informed that the CDA board will be holding a meeting on Thursday to approve the project for the sewage treatment plant and the laying of additional sewage lines to avoid any discharge of untreated waste into the Rawal Lake.
Asif Shujah Khan said he, along with the WASA MD, had visited various points along the Korang Nullah where the pollution levels were reportedly said to be higher and send samples to the laboratory to investigate the situation.
The meeting also expressed concern on the upstream development and decided to ensure that no housing society should be allowed to be constructed without having a sewage treatment facility.
The Punjab government had reiterated that they have taken effective steps against poultry farms, restaurants and shops along the fresh water stream and that more than 300 cases have been filed in the Environmental Tribunal.
