‘231 factories are polluting canal water’

Factory owners told to install waste treatment plants.

FAISALABAD:

As many as 231 factories and mills in the district were polluting canal water with their chemical effluent being discharged into the water directly, Environment District Officer (DO) Mian Nawaz told to The Express Tribune on Friday.

He was sharing results of a survey conducted recently by the Environment Protection Department. The District Officer said that the research was conducted to study environmental pollution in Faisalabad.

He said all seven major canals passing through the Faisalabad district were polluted. He said this was hazardous to both the residents of the area but also other people and animals depending on these canals as a major source of water.



The DO said that 54 textile mills, 20 cotton factories, six paper factories, one sugar mill and one chemical factory were discharging effluent in Maddoana drain; 22 textile mills, two hosiery units, one hospital, one pulse factory and a cardboard mill were discharging effluent in Paharang Drain; 22 textile mills, two hosiery units and a soap factory were discharging effluent in Sarangwala drain; two sewerage disposal points, two slaughter houses, two plastic factories, a cotton factory, a sugar mill, a marble factory were discharging effluent in Sammundri drain; 41 cotton waste factories, one hosiery unit, one paper board mill, one chemical factory, one lubricant mill and two poultry waste factories were throwing effluent in Awagat drain; and a textile factory was discharging effluent in Samundri drain.

The DO said that the Department was planning to devise a strategy to put these mills and factories under control. He said the factories and mills had been directed to install treatment plants immediately. He said all owners of these mills and factories had been served notices and told to act within a given time before the EPD starting sealing factories.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2013.