Eating out?: DHA suspects restaurants dumping garbage into the sea

DHA decided to send a vigilance team to check if the restaurants were dumping garbage, untreated waste or oily effluents into the sea. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: For the Karachi’ite, the line of restaurants which overlook the sea just beyond Seaview and in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase VIII, might have been just another food street, but environmentalists argue that they are harming the sea.

At a meeting on Tuesday, DHA decided to send a vigilance team to check if the restaurants were dumping garbage, untreated waste or oily effluents into the sea. A permanent solution to the issue would be to construct sewage treatment plants.

“The fault actually lies with the Environmental Protection Agency,” said DHA spokesperson Rafat Naqvi. “They are not doing their job. It’s not only the restaurants, but other industrial waste is also being dumped into the sea.” He added that the restaurants had been repeatedly asked not to dump garbage into the sea.

Naqvi claimed that plans for the construction of sewage treatment plants in the area were underway but could not offer a time limit for when they would be completed.

“This has only become an issue because we, the Association of Defense Residents, have put it on our agenda,” said Asad Kizilbash. “The sea stinks and there is no marine life. The water could be polluted or poisoned.” He added that DHA had promised to construct the sewage plants a long time ago but had not done anything as yet.

So far, the impact of the pollution on the sea has not been measured by anyone, however, Shehri, a non-governmental organisation told The Express Tribune that they had plans to do some research to assess the impact as they have received complaints on the issue before.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2012.