Protecting Karachi’s Coastal Environment

Impact of Land Based Activities

Shehri-CBE
17 June 2010
 Shehri-CBE

Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment

is a civil society group
involved in various issues related to the
protection and conservation of
natural and built environment
in Pakistan
 Is Shehri Anti-Development
Karachi will expand the 21st century due to population pressures.
However a city also requires :
• Open spaces for recreation & fresh air. /Playgrounds for
children.
• Schools, hospitals & other social amenities.
• Libraries & theatres.
• Transport systems & roads.
• Adequate utilities & infrastructure (electricity, water, sewerage)
• At this moment the city is being abused by unlawful allotment of
unplanned land, arbitrary conversion of land-use and
construction of illegal buildings.
 Who Benefits?
• When a criminal group take over a park in connivance with
corrupt government officials to make a shopping plaza
• When an illegal office complex is made without parking
space?
• When an illegal commercial buildings are made in
residential zones?
• When illegal allotments of land are made to favor political
supporters?
• A city's development should be for the benefit of all the
populace and not a handmaiden for a few.
 Sewerage System in Karachi
• Karachi gets 665 million gallons per day (mgd)
of fresh water
• 435 mgd of sewerage is generated daily in
Karachi
• Only 17 % is being treated (74 mgd)
• Daily over 360 million gallons of untreated
sewage pollutes the marine environment
 FROM KWSB WEBSITE

Sewage Treatment Plant Optimum Actual

Design treatment(mgd)
Capacity (mgd)
Sewage Treatment Plant-I SITE 51.00 mgd 20 mgd
Sewage Treatment Plant-II 46.50 mgd 30 mgd
Mehmoodabad
Sewage Treatment-III Mauripur 54.00 mgd 40 mgd
TOTAL 151.50 mgd 90 mgd
 Greater Karachi Sewerage
Treatment Plant (S-III) project
• The total capacity of the sewerage treatment
project is estimated to be as 500 mgd
• The capacity of the of three existing treatment
plants will be enhanced from 151 mgd to 300 mgd.
• A new 200 mgd treatment plant will also be
constructed at Korangi
• A trunk sewer will be constructed in Lyari and Malir
• A pipe sewer (900 mm to 1200 mm) will be laid up
to the Lyari-Malir Trunk Sewer.
 Reality On the Ground - 1
• In 2009 City Council at the KMC Hall passed a
resolution converting over 40 acres of
amenity space at Sewage Treatment Plant-2 in
Mehmoodabad into a housing colony for
political supporters.
• High Court issues stay order but work
continues – contempt of court?
 Reality On the Ground - 2
• As per a newspaper report on 16 June 2010
• Around 150 acres near Pakistan Refinery Limited which
were initially earmarked for the establishment of Greater
Karachi Sewerage Treatment Plant S-III have been
allotted to a cooperative housing society (Ghaggar
Cooperative Housing Society ) whose members are
mostly provincial lawmakers.
• Pakistan Refinery Limited had earlier cautioned that
except for industrial units, there should be no residential
places within a radius of 500 metres of the refinery
owing to the gases emitted by its chimneys.
 Problems of Untreated Sewerage
• Sickness and diarrhea as well as ear, nose and
throat infections, acute febrile respiratory illness,
hepatitis, typhoid etc
• Fish / Water fowl destruction due to polluted
water.
• Industrial waste water (laced with toxic materials
like Lead, Chromium, Arsenic and Cyanide ) used
to irrigate vegetables / fruits
• Destruction of Mangroves
Destruction of Mangroves (Hectares )

300,000
260,000
250,000

200,000
160,000
162,000
150,000

100,000
69,000
50,000

0
1950s
1980s
1990s
2004
 Do We Need Mangroves?
• Mangroves act as 'Iungs' in purifying air in coastal area, as
'carbon bank' to reduce global warming, as a 'coastal wall'
in protecting soil erosion and wind / storm / wave stress
• In 1960, a tsunami wave hit the Bangladesh coast in an area
where mangroves were intact. There was not a single
human loss. These mangroves were subsequently cut
down. In 1991, thousands of people were killed when a
tsunami of the same magnitude hit the same region.
• Majority of adolescent fish and shrimp breed in the coastal
mangrove forests that are being destroyed. Fish breeding is
affected, preventing our fishing industry from growing into
a $1 billion export industry (currently only $200 million)
 Reclamation of Land
• A fundamental reason why large areas of land in Karachi
are were flooded during rainstorms is the blocking of the
main outfalls that carry water from Karachi’s storm water
drains and nullahs into the sea.
• The responsibility rests squarely on the rich and the
powerful. They have the clout to reclaim huge areas from
the sea — quite often illegally — to make money.
• Karachi has three main drainage outfalls that carry the
city’s sewerage and rain water into the sea. The three
drainage outfalls are the Kolachi Bypass, the Lyari river
and the Malir river.
 Mai Kolachi Bypass
• The Kolachi Bypass, which receives the Soldier Bazar and the
City Railway drains, has been reduced from the 300 feet that
it originally was to 30 feet.
• This has enabled the KPT to reclaim considerable land for
commercial purposes while destroying the mangroves and
choking off the outfall. As a result the rain water, mixed with
sewage, backed up to flood Saddar and the business centre on
I.I. Chundrigar Road.
• Solution – Convert the Mai Kolachi Bypass into a low bridge
The land carved out by the KPT adjacent to the bypass will
have to be surrendered to the sea. It will save the mangroves.
It will allow a free flow of storm water from the Saddar and
Chundrigar areas It will not disrupt the road artery between
Boat Basin and Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan Road.
 Lyari River
• The Lyari river has been affected by the construction of the
Lyari Expressway that has reduced the river to one third its
width. This links up with the Gujjar Nullah and the Orangi
Nullah and flooding in these outlets affected the western part
of the city such as Agra Taj Colony, localities around the Lyari
General Hospital and others.
• The design of the Lyari Expressway will have to be reassessed
and some solution found to the problem created by it.
Dredging the Lyari river to compensate for the loss of width by
giving it greater depth may not help if the sea level is higher.
The water will inevitably flow back into the drain.
 Malir River

• The Malir river serves the Malir, Korangi, Landhi and

Gulshan areas and empties into the Arabian Sea via the
Gizri Creek. This has been affected by the encroachment
by the DHA at Qayyumabad that has halved the width of
the Malir river. Here land reclamation has also narrowed
the outlet to the sea.
• The encroachment on Malir river will have to be stopped.
Similarly the reclamation of land in the Gizri Creek will
have to be halted.
 Port Activities
• The greatest pollution occurs at Karachi port because
of its high usage from vessels illegally pumping out
bilges and refuse at the port's oil terminal.
• Sewage and garbage from the visiting vessels are often
uncontrolled
• The port is also affecting the environment with its
heavy shipping of oil and subsequent dredging
activities
 From GlobalSecurity.org - 1
• The Karachi Harbour has become one of the most highly
polluted Harbors in the region.
• Vessels berthed in the Harbor and Harbor infrastructure is
also being seriously affected.
• Mild steel is used in the construction of most of PN vessels.
The study conducted by PN Dockyard Laboratory on the
rate of corrosion of mild steel shows that standard weight
loss of mild steel in the open seawater is only 5.48 gram per
square meter per day as compared to 9.20 gram per square
meter per day in the Karachi Harbour waters.
 From GlobalSecurity.org - 2
• Therefore, an estimated value of around 33% loss of ship
life has been taken to arrive upon an estimated cost to have
an idea of indirect loss to PN.
• Generally speaking, price of large naval platform in the
International market, is around US $ 300 Million. These
platforms are usually built for 25-30 years. PN maintains 08
large platforms and 06 submarines. Hence more than one
Billion $ US is lost due to the pollution
• Polluted water also reduces the life of infrastructure i.e.
Jetties and docks etc.
Thank You