Hyderabad DCO Muhammad Hussein Syed has said that Sindh government has formed a permanent committee on 'Emergency Response Action for Resolution of Drinking Water Problems and Health Crises In Hyderabad' to meet any eventuality during such crisis. This he said while presiding over the first meeting of that committee held at his office on Monday to recommend steps and precautionary measures before release of the water from Manchar Lake into Indus River.
He said that this committee would be headed by Hyderabad Zila Nazim, with DCO as Secretary, and Taluka Nazims of City, Qasimabad, Latifabad, Chief Engineer Kotri Barrage, DG HDA, MD Wasa, MS Civil Hospital, Assistant Director EPA and one representative each from WHO and Unicef as members of the committee. He added that in the absence of Zila Nazim he would also act as the head of the committee.
He said that the meeting was convened to propose steps, with the help of specialists, to meet the water crisis which might emerge after release of the Manchar water into Indus River, the only source of drinking water for the citizens of Hyderabad, and also of the people of Karachi.
After detailed deliberations most of the participants expressed their disagreement with the opinion of Sindh Irrigation Department that release of Manchar water into Indus River was inevitable. They said that the bunds of Manchar Lake were very much safe even after its RL 114 as compared to present RL - 109, and there was no need to reduce it up to RL 104.
The committee recommended to Sindh government that an experts committee, comprising water specialists, engineers, and scientists be constituted to re-examine the maximum high level of Manchar Lake and to decide whether the release of Manchar water at present was necessary or not.
The DCO said that in case the reduction of Manchar lake was inevitable, then the Sindh Irrigation Department must maintain the WHO standard of water at Kotri Barrage as recommended by Dr M A Kazi Institute of Chemistry, University of Sindh. He said that the Irrigation Department must maintained the minimum safe limits for dilution of Manchar water with River Indus at a ratio of 1/30 to keep the River Indus water totally dissolved salts (TDS) within permissible range of WHO 500 mgm/per litre at the end of Kotri Barrage. He said that this standard ratio of 1/30 must be maintained continuously by the irrigation department with the representatives from stakeholders, civil professional bodies and consultants.
Chief Engineer, Kotri Barrage, however, differed with the views of participants of the meeting, who were in majority, and said that the reduction of Manchar Lake from RL - 109 to 105 was imperative for the protection of lake bunds and people of the surrounding areas. He said that Sindh Irrigation Department has done water analysis of Manchar Lake and Indus River through Public Health Engineering Laboratory, which recommended the ratio of 1/10 safe for human consumption. However, the laboratories analysis reports from other laboratories circulated, among the participants, totally differed with the analysis report made by Sindh Irrigation department.
Last year, the release of water from Manchar Lake into River Indus took a toll of 50 people in Hyderabad alone.
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