Not just the air but also the river flowing through Punjab’s capital has been found to be the world’s most polluted, with active pharmaceutical ingredients posing a ‘threat to the environment and human health’.
A study on pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers conducted at the University of York and published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US detected pharmaceutical particles including paracetamol, nicotine, caffeine and epilepsy, and diabetes drugs in the river.
It placed waterways in Lahore, Bolivia, and Ethiopia among the most polluted while rivers in Iceland, Norway, and the Amazon rainforest fared the best.
Expressing concern over the latest findings of river pollution, environmentalist Afia Salam said the River Ravi had been turned into a drain with human and industrial wastes. “We have laws about dumping wastewater and industrial wastage but no law is being implemented in the country,” she said, adding that if the government implemented the waste disposal laws, it would bring betterment in-ground and river water.
“Also the current government is planning to build a city on the river basin [Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project] and it would also increase pollution,” she regretted. Besides, she said, India was also creating problems for the Ravi by diverting the Hudiyara drain towards River Ravi.
Lahore Conservation Society Information Secretary Dr. Ajaz Anwar told that under the Indus Water Treaty, India had stopped pure water and had thrown wastewater in the Ravi. “We also have diverted untreated wastewater into the river besides dumping waste in and around the basin of the river,” he added.
He said future generations might be able to see natural water flow in the river when dams were built on the river. The current government, which counts the conservation of the environment among its top priorities, says it plans to rescue the river by installing water treatment plants. But these plans hinge on the progress of its multibillion-dollar project to build a new Dubai-style city for the wealthy elite, which, environmentalists insist, will increase pollution rather than reduce it. The prime minister claims that the new Ravi city project will save the river.
Referring to the government plans to build a new city, Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project, Dr Anwar said he was planning to launch a protest campaign against the move. “How could you build a city on agricultural land? And it would also disturb the water level of Lahore city,” he added.
In a recently recorded video, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said the Ravi Riverfront project would turn around the economy and benefit some 40 industries, offer hundreds of jobs and bring in much-needed foreign exchange. “Around $1.5 billion foreign investment has already reached Pakistan for this project,” he said.
“The project is not about establishing housing societies, but creating a new planned city after Islamabad,” he had said while explaining that the project would save the Ravi because wastewater treatment plants would be installed to treat sewage before draining it into the river.
