SEPA takes steps to rein in pollution

Move comes as an attempt to sustain 40% improvement in air quality recorded during lockdown

KARACHI:

The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) announced on Thursday measures to be taken to control hazardous industrial and vehicular emissions on a priority basis.

It has taken the initiative on the directives of the adviser to the CM on environment and coastal development, Murtaza Wahab, in an attempt to retain the 40 per cent improvement recorded in air quality during the pandemic-related lockdown.

As a result, the environmental watchdog has issued directives for all industrial associations to monitor air quality in their respective areas, so as to gauge atmospheric degradation after the lockdown's end. SEPA has further instructed factory owners to plant saplings in large numbers around industrial units, seeking a tree plantation plan from all of them within a week.

Industries have also been told to improve the condition of buses used for transporting employees, with special focus on controlling vehicular emissions, and take practical steps to facilitate the smooth movement of vehicles in and around factories.

Besides, SEPA is set to re-launch its vehicular emission control campaign, under which it will collaborate with the traffic police to penalise the transporters of vehicles emitting smoke.

Elaborating on these measures, SEPA director-general Naeem Ahmed Mughal told a meeting on Thursday that through a comparative study, the environmental watchdog had deduced that Karachi's air quality had improved by 40 per cent during the lockdown.

Calling for collective efforts to sustain this improvement, he stressed that all industrial associations should launch campaigns for beautifying the city's roundabouts and take up the task of planting saplings in open spaces in their respective areas.

Moreover, he specifically issued directives for the proper disposal of solid industrial waste, adding that industries were also required to install wastewater treatment plants as per the instructions of the Water Commission.

Mughal warned of "stern action" in case of negligence, adding that those found responsible for burning solid waste would be "dealt with an iron hand."

He also urged public to register complaints about violations with SEPA, while pledging to provide all possible technical assistance to industries for controlling pollution.

In April, during the lockdown, SEPA had collected data from all six districts of Karachi and compared it with the data collected from 76 locations in the city in February, before the lockdown.

The agency found out that the concentration of average particulate matter (PM2.5) - one of the most hazardous air pollutants - had reduced by 39 per cent during a period of just two months.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2020.