Daska’s Industrial Wastewater: Impact on Canals and Beyond

A canal built for the monsoon

Daska is one of four tehsils in Sialkot district, and floods are nothing new there. Nullah Aik, a seasonal stream, overflows at many points in the district, and the district disaster management plan lists farmland in Daska and Sambrial among the areas that flood. A canal for floodwater, such as the one at Raja Ghumman, the place where I was born and raised, was designed to carry that water, mostly in the monsoon months. Now I am seeing something there that I have not seen before. The canal no longer carries only rain: it also takes in water from industrial processes, and farmers draw that water onto their fields. There is no published test of this water, so what follows is an observation, not a measurement. To understand what it might mean, I have turned to studies from the wider Sialkot region.

Sialkot’s wastewater problem is not new

Sialkot is an industrial city that makes leather goods, sports goods and surgical instruments. WWF-Pakistan (World Wide Fund for Nature Pakistan) estimates that the city generates about 32 million gallons of wastewater a day, which drains into Nullahs Aik, Bhaid and Palkhu. Its report found no treatment plant in the city and described these streams as gradually turning into industrial drains. Tanneries are the largest contributors: according to a 2011 Business Recorder report, each tannery generates between 547 and 814 cubic metres of wastewater a day (a cubic metre is 1,000 litres), and none of the industrial units had a treatment facility. Chromium (Cr), a toxic metal, is commonly found in tannery effluent. A recent environmental assessment of the district likewise found no industrial waste management system and weak enforcement of environmental laws. Rules do exist. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Punjab sets the Punjab Environmental Quality Standards (PEQS), which limit what factories may discharge. But rules on paper do not clean a canal.

Silence where the fish used to be

WWF-Pakistan reports that fish and other aquatic life in Sialkot’s polluted streams are under severe stress. People interviewed locally said that some species survive, but in much smaller numbers. At Raja Ghumman, the situation seems worse still: I can no longer find the fish and other aquatic life that used to live in the canal. I cannot put a number on the loss, and as far as I know, nobody surveyed this canal before or after the pollution began. That is part of the problem. Uncounted wildlife is easy to forget, and an empty drain is easy to accept as normal.

The same water, now on the fields

Farmers irrigate with whatever water is available to them. WWF-Pakistan recorded hundreds of water pumps along the banks of Sialkot’s polluted nullahs, pumping wastewater to irrigate wheat, rice, vegetables and fodder. This matters in Daska, which the same report describes as a region known for rice, wheat, potatoes and sugarcane. Scientists have documented what such water does to food. A health-risk study of food crops sampled from markets in Sialkot and Gujranwala found that lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) exceeded the limits recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in every crop sampled, and that chromium also exceeded them in most vegetables. The study’s health risk index, in which a value above 1 signals potential risk, exceeded 1 in Sialkot wheat for both Pb and Cd. It recommends pre-treating wastewater and using it on green belts and lawns rather than on food crops. WHO’s guidelines on wastewater use in agriculture take a similar risk-management approach, setting health-based targets and protective measures. These tests were not carried out in Raja Ghumman’s fields, so local testing is needed. Nor do I blame the farmers. In my opinion, they are paying for pollution created upstream.

What seeps below

Pollution does not stay on the surface. WWF-Pakistan states that Sialkot’s water table, typically 10 to 15 metres below ground, is contaminated by pollutants leaching from industrial and municipal wastewater. The report also cites a 2009 study of 25 localities in which lead and iron (Fe) in the groundwater exceeded WHO limits. Villages close to such canals that rely on shallow hand pumps are especially vulnerable.

Where to start

No single canal can solve Sialkot’s wastewater problem, but there are logical first steps. First, test the water, soil, and crops. EPA Punjab could sample the canal and the surrounding fields and publish the results online, where citizens can read them. Second, trace and stop the discharges: enforcing Punjab’s PEQS depends on knowing who discharges effluent into the channel. Third, build treatment together with monitoring. The Sialkot Tannery Association has inaugurated what is reported to be Pakistan’s first fully integrated common effluent treatment plant (CETP) this year, as part of a plan to relocate approximately 240 to 250 tanneries from the city centre. If it helps Daska, it will show in the water downstream. Finally, until tests are done, avoid irrigating food crops, particularly vegetables, with untreated wastewater.

A flood canal that turns into a drain loses more than its purpose. It loses its fish, puts farmers’ livelihoods and consumers’ health at risk, and fades from view because nobody is measuring it. Measurement is where change can begin.