Being a stricken nation, we
have yet to cope with a multitude of chaotic disasters and challenges. Poverty,
Breakdown in law and order, target killings, ethnic and political divides,
widespread hunger, homelessness, unemployment, rising inflation, corruption,
energy crisis and dengue have resulted in unrest in almost all sectors of
society. Beside all these, various sorts of environmental pollutions have also
put a question mark to our survival by acquiring their critical limits. On the
other side, Environmental pollution abatement being one of the core areas of
Pakistan National Conservation Strategy (NCS) have resulted in a complete
debacle because of first, the institutional failure on the part of government
policies and practices and second, the incapability and poor control management
of the enforcing bodies. This has led the common person to live in unhygienic
and filthy circumstances even in this modern age.
An emerging issue of the environmental pollution is the degradation of ambient
air quality particularly in the urban areas. Air pollution is a critical threat
to this generation and has put our lives at high risk. It is of public health
concern on several scales. Indoor air pollution results from products used in
construction materials, adequacy of general ventilation and geophysical factors
that may result in exposure to naturally occurring radioactive materials.
Industrial and mobile sources contribute to meso-scale air pollution that
contaminates the ambient air that surrounds us outdoors. Macro-scale impacts
include transport of ambient air pollutants over large distances and global
impact like acid rain and ozone pollution. Global impacts of air pollution
results from sources that may potentially change the upper atmosphere for
example depletion of ozone layer and global warming.
Various surveys show that air pollution levels in cities of Pakistan have either
crossed the safe limits or have just reached the threshold values particularly
the level of air pollution in Pakistan’s two largest cities, Karachi and Lahore
is estimated to be 20 times higher than the WHO standards and is continuing to
rise. Islamabad, the capital is perpetually smothered by a thick cloud of smog
that hides views of the Margalla hills that tower over the city’s tree-lined
streets.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-Pak) with the assistance of Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) carried out various surveys to
investigate the ambient air quality in the major cities of Pakistan. All these
surveys revealed the presence of excessive Suspended Particulate Matters (SPM)
in the air and concluded that the concentration of SPM (both TSP and PM10) in
all major cities of Pakistan is extremely high. In study of three cities namely
Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the average SPM recorded was 6.4 times higher
than WHO guidelines and 3.8 times higher than Japanese Standards. Presence of
such a high level of SPM in the air is certainly a matter of concern due to its
serious health implication for public. The levels of Sulphur dioxide, Oxides of
Nitrogen and Carbon Monoxide were also found in excess of acceptable standards
in some areas but the average levels were found below WHO guidelines. The major
sources of SPM are vehicles, industry, burning of solid wastes, brick kilns and
natural dust.
The second emerging air pollutant in Pakistan is Nitrogen Oxides. It causes eye,
throat and lung irritation, and is gifted to the air through high temperature
combustion mainly from motor vehicles. It is the primary air pollutant that
produces photochemical smog, acid rain and destroys ozone at the stratosphere,
thus reduce the ozone ultraviolet protective layer. Nitrogen Oxide is a
precursor to acidic precipitation which may affect both terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems. Pak-EPA has taken lead and carried out thorough investigation of NO2
in all major cities (Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Quetta) to
determine its present level so that the future strategy could be chased out to
safeguard the public from its adverse effect. The highest concentration of NO2
was found in Karachi and then descending to Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and
Islamabad. It reflects the high density of traffic locations in all five cities
by averaging the all NO2 values. Karachi and Lahore have shown the similar
average concentration of NO2 i.e 76μg/m3. The average concentration of NO2 in
Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad were 69.50, 47.28 and 30.41μg/m3 respectively.
The least minimum vale of NO2 in Islamabad was found in the residential area
embassy road, which was 11.65μg/m3. The highest concentration of NO2 399.65μg/m3
was found at Karimabad Junction in Karachi.
Ozone the next air pollutant acts as a powerful respiratory irritant at the
levels frequently found in most of the nation’s urban areas during summer
months. Long term repeated exposure to high levels of ozone may lead to large
reductions in lung function, inflammation of lung lining, and increased
respiratory discomfort.
Like the other developing countries, industry has expanded in Pakistan;
factories have emitted more and more toxic effluents into the air. Also the
number of vehicles has swelled massively with an overall increase of about 400%
within last 20 years. Since 1980, the maximum growth has been seen in the
2-stroke vehicles i.e delivery vans followed by motor cycles and rickshaws which
are the major cause of SPM because they use straight mineral oil instead of 2T
oil as lubricant and use excessive quantity of lubricant (12%) instead of 2% for
motor cycles and 3% for three wheelers, thus contributing 90% of the pollutants
in Pakistan’s air. Authorities are looking at the possibility of using
alternative fuels (CNG) for vehicles to reduce the air pollution. According to
the latest statistics, Pakistan is the third largest CNG consumer in the world
after Argentina and Italy but still we need to initiate various awareness
programs to sensitize the commuters and introduce various programs to replace
the still in use 2-stroke rickshaws with 4-stroke CNG rickshaws so as to reduce
pressure on petroleum imports, to reduce carbon emission and improve the
environment. Beside this, we all need to come forward and indulge ourselves in
the environmental movement individually and collectively to improve the air
quality in our country. Every individual should plant more and more trees and
cover open spaces with grass. Owning this slogan would surely save us from yet
this dire challenge, “Be friend of the environment and motivate other people to
care for the environment”.
(The writer is an undergraduate level student of Civil Engineering and Freelance
Columnist)