Issues and Remedies of Sewage Treatment and Disposal in Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Like any under developed country, Pakistan also faces serious issues of urbanization and ribbon growth in its population centers like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. There is a massive trend of social change where people migrate from rural to urban areas at an alarming pace. Due to paucity of funds, the government could not stop this dangerous trend. As a result, the existing sewers and sewerage  schemes in these cities could not sustain and accommodate additional biological loadings due to shift of population. Eventually there is general problem of treatment and disposal residential sewage and human excreta... It is well known fact that sludge production will continue to increase due to urbanization, mass migration and exponential growth in housing sector. Consequently improper disposal of domestic sewage and human excreta has posed serious problems of health, environment and bio degradation in major urban areas and population centers. This research has been under taken to study the efficiency of traditional sewage management systems and evaluate the possibility of using cutting edge technology of Biofilter  Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). For this propose, questionnaire was designed and disseminated among industry specific respondents. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed out of which 100 valid responses were received. Thus response count comes to 66.67 percent which is healthy rate for carrying out further research. The major findings include; under capacity of existing sewerage system due to urbanism and growth in housing sector, inadequate supply of funds, in adequate knowledge of STPs and their secondary benefits, and environmental issues arising out of poor sludge management. The authors recommended that if measures like national sanitation policy, awareness campaign on efficiency of STPs, sufficient supply of funds and concessions in import of STPs are adopted, then sewage related problems can easily be addressed in a holistic manner across the country.

Keywords: Biological Oxygen Demand, Islamabad, Pakistan, STP.