Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan, stretching about 579 km from north to, south and 442 km (extreme) or 281 km (average) from east to west, with an area of 140,915 square kilometers (54,408 sq mi) of Pakistani territory. It has 23 Districts, 119 Towns and 1108 Union Councils.
The population of Sindh province is about 35,470,648 with Density 251.7/km2 (651.9/sq mi) as per data collected in 2009. Sindh is the largest revenue producer province in Pakistan with number of Industrial Estates, dynamic activities of import & export of goods and development potential. Unplanned Development, Poverty, Intensive Urbanisation, Indiscriminate use of natural resources, increasing population and negligence in protecting the environment has resulted alarming situation of degradation of natural and environmental resources.
Major environmental issues in Sindh province are identified as Degradation of fresh water bodies, Marine pollution, Urban & Indoor Air Pollution, Higher Noise levels in Urban Centers, Industrial and Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Toxic Waste, Destruction of ecosystems, Deforestation & Desertification, Contamination in Ground water excessive use of pesticide and fertiliser, Destruction of Mangrove forest, Improper disposal of Infectious Hospital waste.
The major industries of Karachi are Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Steel and Automobiles. Apart from these, Karachi is also called as software outsourcing hub of Pakistan. Manghopir site is the biggest industrial area of Pakistan with more than 4000 factories. Others are Landhi, Korangi, FB Area, North Karachi and Port Qasim. Karachi has five major industrial estates with over 6,000 industrial units.
The Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate alone has 3,200 industrial units in more than 65 categories. Sukkur is hub of many small and large scale industries. Among important are cotton, textiles, cement, leather, tobacco, paint & varnish, pharmaceuticals, Agriculture. It is also a distribution centre, which fulfils the requirement of whole of the upper Sindh, part of lower Punjab and Balochistan.
There are two industrial estates in Sukkur ie Sindh industrial trading estate (SITE) and small industries estate (SIE). Hyderabad Industrial Estate is playing and important role in the development of the Province of Sindh and more then 250 industries are working. Industries include textiles, cement, glass and soap, pottery, tanneries, and film; handicraft industries.
Hyderabad is a major commercial centre for the agricultural produce of the surrounding area, including millet, rice, wheat, cotton, and fruit. Noise, vibrations, green house effect, radiation, chemicals, electromagnetic radiation and microbiological and social problems like stress and fatigue.
In Karachi, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) and Korangi Industrial and Trading Estate (KITE), two of the largest industrial estates in Pakistan, there is no effluent treatment plant and the waste containing hazardous materials, heavy metals, oil etc is ultimately discharged into coastal waters through Malir and Lyari rivers and their tributaries.
In Hyderabad, the sugarcane based industry, is a major cause of industrial water pollution due to discharge of wastewater containing high pollutant. Since the pollutants contained in the industrial effluents are invariably toxic and most of them are difficult to be biologically degraded, the environmental contamination has been increasing steadily and spreading into the aquifer system and contaminating the groundwater.
The wastewater discharged without treatment into drainage canals, ultimately finds its way into the food chain. Untreated pollutants from industrial, agricultural and urban sources are released directly into water bodes intended for human consumption, with little regards for assimilative capacity of eco-systems. The result is heavily polluted water around towns and cities and high incidence of disease, especially among the urban poor.
The links between water quality and health risks are well established. Inadequate quantity and quality of potable water, poor sanitation facilities and practices are associated with a host of illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, intestinal worms and hepatitis.
Diarrheal and typhoid mortality in children accounts for the bulk of the losses, reflecting the vulnerability of children to these diseases. Striking are the high proportion of costs due to premature child deaths, followed by the mortality impacts of typhoid in the older population.
The water quality of Indus River was assessed at six locations from Guddu barrage to Sajawal Bridge in Thatta district where concentration of certain pollutants was observed. According to international classification the river is seriously polluted, due to the discharge of industrial and municipal wastewater from almost major cities & town into the river. Microbiological contamination in the water quality was also observed at every location which renders the water unfit for human consumption. Presence of heavy metals indicated that industrial effluent is being dumped into river.
There is an urgent need to address the health and environment effects associated with urban air pollution in Sindh Province and to promote more effective frameworks to address urban sources of air pollution. In those Pakistani cities where air quality monitoring has been performed, levels of air pollution exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended guidelines (WHO, 2000; 2005). National estimates of the burden of disease for Pakistan indicate that approximately 28,700 people die annually due to exposure to outdoor urban air pollution, and 70,700 people are assumed to die annually due to exposure to smoke from solid fuel use.
Air Pollution is an emerging environmental issue in major cities of Sindh. In metropolitan industrial areas such as Karachi pollution-related diseases are now realities of life. Increasing air pollution by industrial plants is already serious threats to public health in Sindh. Hundreds of tones of pollutant are emitted by factories and vehicles in thickly populated cities. Karachi, the largest industrial centre in Pakistan, alone has thousands of industrial units and about half million vehicles on its roads. Studies conducted by the University of Karachi have shown that a high concentration of lead is being excreted in the urine of people residing in Denso Hall Area. Excessive lead concentrations can pose serious kidney problem.
In Sindh, the major pollutant is dust, but people may also be exposed to acidic/caustic vapors, hydrocarbons fluorides, metals or other pollutants specific to individual processes Almost 80 per cent of the vehicles emit black smoke due to improper burning of fuel. This black smoke is loaded with chemicals like un burnt hydrocarbons oxides of nitrogen ,sulphur, paraffin's, olefing polymer aromatics and aldehydes all of which are dangerous to health he high concentration o f lead in petrol (1.5-2g / liter, being more than the maximum permissible limit of 0.5 g/ liter), is contaminating t he atmosphere w with toxic lead.
There has been evidence showing that particulate matter(PM) exposure is linked to a variety of adverse effects on mortality (non-accidental all-cause mortality, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality) and morbidity (hospital admissions, out-patient and emergency visits, asthma attacks and acute respiratory infections).
Particulate Matter (PM) is so small that they can get deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems. Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to a variety of problems, including increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing, or difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, development of chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, nonfatal heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease. People with heart or lung diseases, children and older adults are the most likely to be affected by particle pollution (PM) exposure. Various health impacts of heavy metal on human body due to absorption / adsorption have been found as well.
Noise pollution is another harsh type pollution which has direct impacts on health and human behaviour. Various studies reflects that communities live in highly dense, industrial, vehicular and commercial areas have number of health related issues like hypertension, listening loss and abdominal issues.
Similarly generation and disposal under devolution plan the work of solid waste collection and disposal has become highly fragmented. In addition various round meeting with stakeholders including top industrialists have resulted that there is not central agency to collect and disposal of industrial waste which fall into hazardous and non-hazardous categories.
Waste management is the discipline associated with control of generation, storage, collection, transfer transport and disposal of waste in a manner that is in accordance with the best principles of conservation aesthetics and other environmental considerations and that also is responsive to public attitudes. It includes all administrative, financial legal, planning and engineering functions involved in the whole spectrum of solutions to problems of wastes thrust upon the community by its inhabitants. The aim of waste management is to ensure that the waste is collected, handled and disposed as efficiently, economically and with as little environmental impact as practically possible. Usually industrial waste consists of chemicals, paints, metal scraps, fly ash, effluents, sludge, garbage and rubbish. In current situation the disposal of industrial and domestic of solid waste is being done in very unscientific manner by dumping into the depressions, water bodies or burnt in open atmosphere causing sever threat to environment.
To the address the environmental issues in Sindh province the provincial government as establish Environmental Protection Agency for implementation and enforcement of Pakistan Environment Protection Act, rules and regulations that provide stern action against the violators of Environmental Law.
However, the enforcement requires building Institution Capacity for Environmental Management, strong political will, availability of adequate infrastructure for wastewater collection and treatment, investment for effective disposal of solid and industrial waste.
Environmental Management in the province needs to be assigned one of the top priorities to enhance quality of life and health of general public. Responsibilities and role of public & private organisations, civil society and general public can never be over looked for better environment management by addressing the challenges in the interest of every person of our society. Consideration of Environment must be integrated with socio-economic development for an approach of sustainable development so that we can preserve and maintain our natural resources for future generations.