Pakistan

Supreme Court: Asia’s largest water reserve to be purified

Manchar Lake is the largest freshwater reserves in Asia.

May 07, 2011 Less than a minute read

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), made up of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, directed the Sindh government to take effective measures to ensure a pollution-free Manchar Lake.

The bench was informed by Sindh chief secretary and the Wapda chairman that six pollution treatment plants and two desalination plants would be installed to purify the lake.

Out of these, one desalination plant had already been installed, and the second one would be functional by the end of this month. Last year’s floods had also washed away surface impurities from the lake, however long-term measures were required to ensure that Manchar Lake remained free of pollution.

Manchar Lake is the largest freshwater reserves in Asia but is heading towards a painful death because of constant dumping of effluent and other pollution in its waters.

Reports about this situation had reached the Supreme Court, after which the judicial body decided to take notice.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2011