CM, WASA and Billboard Reform

Here's a link to this week's column.

Nestle in Sheikhupura

Nestle is expanding its water purification facility in Sheikhupura. Because this is a water treatment scheme that costs more than Rs. 25 million (and because the extraction of water has the potential to cause adverse environmental effect), Nestle was required by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 to commission and submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project. It hired NESPAK to conduct the EIA.



WWF - Pakistan has slammed the EIA report.



I was told of the Nestle EIA a few days ago by a fellow Nabeela Ahmad, an advocate who also teached environmental law at LUMS. My first reaction was to dismiss the concerns, but Nabeela, quite rightly, pointed out that my skepticism would be justified as long as we lived in a world where water and access to water is treated like an entitlement. This is true (and she won the argument by convincing me). We often overlook the fact that most of us get flowing water 24/7. This is quite anomolous for a third world country. The fact that WASA still pumps water to most of the city's resident's speaks volumes about it (though some would say WASA does bugger all, which is also true!).



The point is that water can't be taken for granted. Nestle's activities in Pakistan have been fairly well documented by an ActionAid report. What's most depressing is the report clearlyunderlines the total lack of appreciation amongst the powers that be that water is a scarce resource (as opposed to a right or a commodity), and that our water usage should be regulated in this light. We cannot continue to let companies like Nestle pump water to be sold for profit, especially when it reportedly does so inefficiently and while government agencies responsible for water supply do not/can not do it for profit.



The WWF has commented on Nestle's EIA report. The comments look something like this:

The report tries to distort some basic facts by portraying extension of existing Bottled Water project as Water Purification Plant resulting in underestimation of the scale, complexity and potential impact of the Project.

The report does not describe the hydro-geological conditions in general and potential of the water aquifer in particular. There is no data or scientific information on water balance to assess the impact of withdrawing groundwater, which is the most important impact parameter. Pumping large quantity of water can affect the ground water level and availability in the area leading to major social and environmental disaster, therefore identifying a need to conduct a thorough water balance study. This study should atleast address important questions regarding following questions:

• What is the groundwater availability in the area?
• What is the current level of extraction for various purposes?
• What will be the daily rate of extraction of water? (The report proposes the water extraction on hourly basis).
• What will be the radius of influence due to groundwater extraction by this industry? What is the current rate of groundwater decline in the area? And how will the new plant alter/affect this equation?

Following are few other observations:

• In the report on page E-1 (last 3 lines), gives a totally different picture of water withdrawal. There seems to be a mistake in the unit. Instead of liters, it’s mentioned in m³. Even if we assume that it is in liter, still the water withdrawal is very high.
• The existing plant is producing 34500 bottles per hour. For this the total water withdrawn is 413,950 liters/hr, which looks unreasonably very high. As for every one bottle, Nestle is withdrawing 12 liters of water, which is highly wasteful and inefficient. The ratio of water consumption and bottle water production should not exceed (litre to litre) 3:1.
• Furthermore, data on wastewater discharge from the plants is also confusing.
• Measures concerning impacts of construction and operational activities of the proposed plant on the local / surrounding community are not considered in the impact assessment study.
• It is mentioned in the report that the water samples are taken from “the locations” for water quality testing and is also mentioned in the report that the locations are specified in the table below. However, tables to which text refer to does not explain or indicate the location (refer to section 4).

• The mitigations proposed do not correlate with the impacts identified during the assessment (refer to section 5 of the report). For example, it is mentioned in the report that air emission can cause health impacts including throat, eyes nose irritation, but at the same time the impacts are considered minor. Also as is mentioned in section 5.3.2, percentage or level of emission of PM is not specified.
• As is said in the report that the sewerage and drainage system of the area will improve, however, HOW it will be improved is not specified.
• The company should also incorporate groundwater monitoring, recharge and wastewater reuse / disposal into their Environmental Management Plan (EMP).

We strongly urge EPA Punjab to return this report, halt construction of proposed plant and ask the proponent to conduct a comprehensive scientific water balance study of the area.

It's time to take water management seriously. It's time to stop commercial interests from depriving people from safe and affordable drinking water. It's time to stop consuming millions of little plastic bottles of water (which wind up littering drains). It's time to stop being elitist and overlooking this problem.

There goes the local government

There's been plenty of debate about whether or not Shahbaz Sharif would scrap the local government ordinance.  Most of the local government administration are affiliated with the PML-Q.  Sane counsel prevailed, I am told, and the idea to scrap the PLGO was deemed to be as radical as the move to introduce it.

Be that as it may, the conspicuous absence of elected local government officials is quite a dismay. Shahbaz is filling the void between government and government by standing in for photo-ops and wading through knee-high rain water.  At the same time, he is working very closely with the WASA, the water and sanitation agency of the Lahore Development Authority.  In other words, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is using a development authority rather than the local government as his main urban planning and enforcement weapon. The new MD WASA is an environmental scientist and was summoned from a federal post in the EPA by Shahbaz himself. The new DG of the LDA (formerly DG PHA)is another effective administrator and is spearheading the government's efforts to enforce local government bye-laws.  The new DCO is busy ensuring that shoppers at the weekly Sunday Bazaars aren't taken advantage of.

Between these officers and offices we can identify the players Shahbaz will be using to manage the urban planning of the city. Save the DCO, none are from the local government administration.  Statutorily, the LDA is an independent body but it falls under the administration of the Housing and Urban Development Department.  LDA budget's are published and circulated only after the summary has received the assent of the CM.  One can gauge how independent the LDA is.  It isn't.

So much for not scrapping the system.  This is just a polite way of going about it.

Sunday Morning Drive 13 July

Last week's drive was from Sabzazar to Chauburji. I'm very interested in documenting how the villages and settlements that surrounded Lahore were gradually enveloped by the city. Near Sabzazar is the village of Saidpur and the Shrine of Shah Farid. From there, I went north followed the road past Dhanowal parralell to Multan Road.

Here's an example of a new Lahori Jharoka in a house in the area.











I resurfaced on Bund Road, in the precincts of the Nawankot Police Station. This is where one of Lahore's bigger bus addas is.

From there, I got back onto Multan Road and headed towards Chauburji. A little before Poonch House, I turned left.











Welcome to Chauburji Park











Below are some of the houses in and near Chauburji Park. The old house is very fascinating. It's located on Ramraj Road (please correct me if I'm wrong) and very near the Chuburji monument itself.