LAHORE: More than half (56 percent) of the geographic area of Punjab is currently under cultivation, however, human activities like disposal of solid waste, sewage and industrial discharges, leachate contamination from landfills sites, deposition of air pollutants in soil and unsustainable agricultural practices have greatly degraded the soil quality.
“Land degradation due to salinity, water logging and overgrazing are rendering lands unfit for cultivation purposes,” claims the Punjab State of Environment Report 2022, recently released by the Environment Protection Department (EPD) Punjab.
The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the conditions of various aspects of the environment such as air, water, soil, wastewater, and solid waste management in Punjab.
The report further says about 6.3 million hectares of land in Pakistan is salt affected and over half of this lies in the Canal Command Area. Secondary salinization in Punjab is mostly due to seepage of water through unlined canals in the Indus plains causing a rise in the water table thus resulting in waterlogged conditions and salinity.
High salt concentration in irrigation water, accumulation of salt due to faulty irrigation practices, and poor soil drainage are also among the main causes of secondary salinity in Punjab. The salts brought in by the rivers and their tributaries are estimated at 23 million tons (Mt) annually, causing salts to build up in the soil over time.
The economic impacts of such land degradation indicate an annual loss of over 2326 million USD in the cotton-wheat, rice-wheat, and mixed cropping regions of Punjab. The Forest Department, Government of Punjab, manages over six million rangelands. The rangelands are mostly located in Potohar, Thal and Cholistan regions.
About 0.4 million farmers/grazers live in the vicinity of these rangelands are directly benefited by grazing about 1.2 million animals, the report said and added, overgrazing causes desertification of land due to loss of vegetation cover, trampling and soil compaction, so these Rangelands are managed on a rotational basis.
The discharge of untreated wastewater and sewage disposal is leading to heavy metal contamination in soils. The soils in agricultural land irrigated with industrial wastewater contain significant levels of heavy metals that bio-accumulate in plants and travel in the food chain posing serious health threats to consumers.
Although the average value of heavy metals such as Chromium, Copper, Lead and Nickel in soils was within permissible limits, however, the transfer of these metals from soil to plants is significant due to biological magnification.
The fertility status of all soil types is rated as ‘good’ based on the presence of essential micronutrients. The establishment of a continuous soil quality monitoring and reporting system, lining of the canals to prevent water seepage, research for the development of salt-tolerant varieties and policy development and investment in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices are required for maintaining soil quality.
There are 392 industrial wastewater treatment plants in Punjab comprising primary (206), secondary (180), and tertiary (6) treatment facilities. The limited industrial wastewater treatment facilities are not only deteriorating aquatic ecosystems but also hampering trade opportunities with many countries.
Meeting international standards of trade requires effective environmental management by the industrial units, such as optimizing resource utilization and treating waste before its discharge from the industry.
Moreover, the performance efficiency of wastewater treatment facilities installed in various industrial sectors is very low, with ‘very poor’ performance for sugar and paper mills. Whereas, performance is ‘poor’ for leather and tanning, power looms, foods, oil, fats and ghee, and animal feed industries, the report concludes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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