KARACHI, July 5: At least 1.5 million people in Asia die of environment-related diseases every year. This was stated by the deputy chief manager of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission , Dr Badar Ghauri, at the inauguration of a short training course on "Environmental pollution monitoring" on Monday morning.

He said that according to the estimates of the World Health Organization, 1.5 billion urban dwellers faced pollution levels that exceeded recommended levels.

He said: "Drinking water samples of nine districts of Sindh, including Thatta, Dadu, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Tharparkar, Nawabshah and Naushero Feroz, have been reported to contain higher levels of arsenic exceeding WHO guideline (10 parts per billion).

Another study conducted by the Environment Protection Agency of Punjab on the quality of subsoil water in 14 districts of Punjab revealed that 239 samples out of 280 when tested were found unfit for human consumption."

Dr Ghauri spoke about the pollution monitoring facilities that Suparco had in Karachi and Lahore. With the help of charts, graphs and maps, he explained that pollution was considerably high in six major cities of the country.

He also presented a satellite image of the beach on Aug 19, 2003, showing the extent of damage caused by the oil spill in the wake of the breaking up of the Tasman Spirit.

The Sindh environment secretary, Shujaat Ali Qarni, said industrialists took no anti-pollution measures while setting up factories. He added that now even if industrialists wanted to set up effluent treatment plants, they could not do so because there was no space.

He suggested that all stakeholders should lobby for their rights and seek to end - or at least control - pollution. He added that people did not consider pollution an issue.

He said he was glad that Suparco was carrying out a baseline study which would help them collate the data required to monitor air pollution. The former director of the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr Mirza Arshad Ali Baig, said that according to the findings of an environmental impact study, Pakistan did not contribute to global warming.

"This is proved by the fact that carbon dioxide concentration in ambient air has remained static at around 350 parts per million. Temperatures at a number of places, for instance Badin, have decreased by 0.3 to 0.7 degrees centigrade. Rainfall has increased at such places during the last 40 years," he said.

The Suparco chairman, Raza Hussain, said the environmental monitoring and assessment would develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess the trends of environmental health.

"The goal is to develop the scientific understanding for translating environmental monitoring data from multiple spatial and temporal scales into assessments and forecasts of future risks to our natural resources," he said.

He explained that the training course was being conducted with a view to sharing the benefits of research and development work undertaken by Suparco scientists and engineers in the field of environment.

"Since industrial emissions are likely to grow over the coming decades, and with the imposition of WTO regulations, the industries would be bound to comply with the environmental standards.

To fulfil the requirement of assessing the environmental damage and the necessity to control pollution, Suparco has launched a programme to provide technical assistance to the public and private sectors," Raza Hussain said.