Not a single drop of sewerage should flow into Rawal Lake

ISLAMABAD Supreme Court Friday warned the environmental agencies both federal and Punjab that it would not allow a single drop of sewerage water to flow into Rawal Lake from where water is supplied to the residents of Rawalpindi. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry heading a three-member bench comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday warned, They will not allow a single drop of sewerage water to flow into Rawal Lake. The bench was hearing a suo moto case of water supply from Rawal Lake to inhabitants of Rawalpindi city and cantonment area. Secretary Cabinet Division Chaudhary Abdul Rauf, Director General Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Punjab Dr Shagufta Shahjahan, DG EPA federal government Shuja Pasha, Commissioner ICT, and Additional Advocate General Khadim Hussain Qaiser appeared before the court. The secretary Cabinet Division submitted the minutes of meeting held on 31st August with all the stakeholders on the direction of apex court for taking concrete measures to ensure that neither polluted nor treated water should flow into Rawal Lake. DGs EPA Punjab and federal government informed the court that besides issuing notices they have filed cases against the violators in the Environment Tribunal, Punjab. But as one member has retired last week, therefore, the matter could not decided yet. The Cabinet secretary said that he would contact the chief secretary Punjab for filling the vacant seat in the Tribunal so that cases may be decided expeditiously. The court directed the Environmental Tribunal to hold hearing after September 17 on day-to-day basis and submit the reports of the cases to registrar Supreme Court. Rawal Lake is an important artificial fresh water reservoir that provides 23 million gallons clean drinking water to inhabitants of Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas. There are four major streams and 43 small streams contributing to its storage. The poultry farms and the human settlements, especially huge amount of raw sewage coming from urban settlements, including sewage from Quaid-i-Azam University, Bari Imam, Mall-pur, Noor Pur Shahan, Bani Gala, Bhara Kahu, Diplomatic Enclave and Murree pollutes the lake water. The increased human activities in the catchments area have deteriorated the raw water quality of the lake beyond acceptable limits. Due to that not only the filtration cost of the raw water has increased manifolds but also it is adversely impacting health of Rawalpindi city and cantonment residents. The WASA has demanded ban on the construction activities in the Rawal Lake catchments area comprising Zone 3 and 4. The water treatment plant installed earlier to treat raw water of Rawal Lake is unable to filter the pollution, said the managing director WASA. He said that twice they have upgraded the treatment plant but now they dont have capacity to further upgrade it. The court has adjourned the case till 1st October.