Daily Times

The Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has remained reluctant to monitor one of the most toxic pollutants; lead (Pb), in the ambient air of the province for past many years, Daily Times has reliably learnt on Monday.

Lead is among the hazardous pollutants present in ambient air which have diverse effects on human as well as animals’ health. Many studies conducted worldwide reveal that lead pollution is one of the most serious health hazards while medics also have expressed their concerns as lead is a neurotoxin and impairs brain development in children.

However, despite all such indications, the Punjab EPA where remained ignoring in monitoring the other air pollutants properly, it certainly failed in monitoring the concentration of lead in ambient air.

According to Punjab Environmental Quality Standards (PEQS), there are at least 103 different parameters related to environmental pollution and among them nine were related to ambient air. These parameters include; Oxides of Nitrogen (NO), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Ozone (O3), Suspended Particulate Matters (SPMs), PM2.5, PM10, Lead (Pb) and Carbon Monoxide (CO).

Department could not take strict action against polluters unless it maintained the record of all pollutants, Environmental Lawyer Sardar Asif Sial

Environment Protection Department (EPD) notified above mentioned parameters for ambient air in 2016 under the clause (c) of sub-section 1 of section 4 of the Punjab Environmental Protection Act 1997, after which this became the responsibility of EPA to monitor all air pollutants in ambient air.

Sources in EPA have disclosed that this very toxic pollutant has been monitored during 2007 to 2010 when a team of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was assisting EPA staff. But, they said that at that time this parameter was not included among the notified pollutants of ambient air. “Since lead (Pb) has been included among notified ambient air pollutants, EPA never bothered to monitor this,” they said adding that EPA has only six air quality monitoring stations and not a single has installed with lead analyser in it. However, sources further informed that lead was being monitored during the wastewater tests by laboratory section.

Environmentalist Dr Syed Nihal Asghar was of the view that where other air and water pollutants were hazardous for human health, lead was also affecting citizens’ health badly. Talking to Daily Times, he said that there have been numerous studies conducted by government and non-governmental organizations which have indicated that the concentration of lead in air was a significant risk to environment, quality of life and human health.

Talking about the sources of lead, he said that growing number of vehicles, consumption of leaded gasoline and poor road conditions were the major causes for high concentration of lead. “As lead is the metal, hence it is indigestible by human body that leading to different health issues,” Asghar said and continued that growing lead concentration is the cause of premature death, asthma symptoms, bronchitis and respiratory illness.

Environmental Lawyer Sardar Asif Sial talking to Daily Times said that not monitoring the lead in ambient air is a sort of criminal negligence of EPA. He said that department could not take strict action against polluters unless it maintained the record of all pollutants.

When contacted EPA Director General (DG) Syeda Malika, she, instead of answering the query on why EPA was not monitoring the lead in ambient air, replied that record would be provided to this correspondent on next working day.

Published in Daily Times, February 5^th 2019.