Pollution

Karachi must heed the mistakes of Flint, Michigan

As with the water pollution in Flint Michigan, Karachi too would benefit from preventive measures
<p>Flint, Michigan, has been in the news due to lead pollution in its water supply [image by Michigan Municipal League]</p>

Flint, Michigan, has been in the news due to lead pollution in its water supply [image by Michigan Municipal League]

Adequate, safe and reliable drinking water supply is essential for the sustainable development of major cities, and it is arguably the most important public health service provided by governments. The World Health Organization concluded that every US$1 invested in water would give an economic return of between US$3 and US$34. Even at the low end of the spectrum, a US$3 return on investment should be an easy financial decision, and yet 1 out of 10 people around the world still live without piped water at home and millions more turn on their taps to find intermittent service and poor quality.

Karachi’s drinking water quality is not wholesome, due to microbial contamination that results from aging water supply lines crossed with leaking sewer lines. Karachi’s water also faces chemical contamination of arsenic, chromium, copper, mercury, and more, which primarily occurs when untreated industrial wastewater is discharged into surface raw water sources; such contaminants can even leach from the water pipes themselves. Karachi and Flint, Michigan, USA share a common concern over lead poisoning.

See: Dirty water takes heavy death toll in Sindh, Pakistan

What happened in Flint is no tragic accident; it is the very definition of a man-made water crisis resulting from the prioritization of finances over public health and the subjugation of democracy in a city that is majority African American and Latino. An “emergency manager” appointed by the governor of Michigan made the decision to switch supply from the Detroit water system to the Flint River. Based on budget estimates, he reasoned that spending US$5 million for an additional two years sourcing from the Detroit system before a new pipeline could be finished was simply too costly. As a result, the state is now grappling with how it will pay upwards of US$1.5 billion to make the mandatory infrastructure repairs.

The residents of Flint are of course paying the greatest burden, some of whom will face a lifetime of healthcare costs from lead poisoning. Stories continue to emerge of once straight-A students now struggling to concentrate and maintain average grades. Others tell of skin rash, headaches, and even miscarriage.

Adding to the sense of outrage, Governor Snyder’s administration dismissed complaints about the water for more than a year while sending bottled water to their local staff.

The use of lead is common in industries around Karachi. Lead is used in cable sheathing, lead acid batteries, pigments, solders, alloys, plastic stabilizers and rust inhibitors. Lead compounds are used in plumbing fittings, and as solder in water distribution systems. Lead pipes are used in water distribution systems. Tetraethyl and tetramethyl lead are used as antiknock compounds in petrol.

A local study that examined lead levels in tap water and the groundwater in Karachi, showed that almost all samples had lead levels that exceeded the World Heath Organization’s drinking guideline value of 10 micrograms per liter (Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, 4th ed., 2011). There is significant association of blood lead levels in children with consumption of drinking water with elevated levels of lead. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention usees a reference level of 5 micrograms per deciliter to identify children (1 – 5 years) with high blood lead levels.

The United Nations General Assembly, through Resolution 64/292 of July 28, 2010, explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation, acknowledging that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. The resolution calls upon states and international organizations to provide financial resources, capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries, in their mandate to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.

Earlier, in November 2002, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted General Comment No. 15 on the right to water, which says, under Article I.1, that the human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights. It also highlighted the right to water as the right of everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable and physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses.

Despite the fact that climate change is putting increasing pressure on water resources, creating more turbulent weather patterns and causing draught, there is enough water to meet everyone’s human rights. Still absent is the political will to prioritize clean water. Civil society must push their political representatives to think beyond the next election cycle because water systems cannot be funded in a single year’s budget. From Flint to Karachi, governments at all levels must engage in the deep planning required to fund water infrastructure for generations to come.

Flint’s story is a case of environmental racism at its worst, where money was prioritized over human rights and democracy. The only possible good that could come from this tragedy is if Karachi and other global municipalities are spurred to invest in water infrastructure because by health and economic measurements, prevention costs far less than treatment.

-->
Cookies Settings

Dialogue Earth uses cookies to provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser. It allows us to recognise you when you return to Dialogue Earth and helps us to understand which sections of the website you find useful.

Required Cookies

Required Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

Dialogue Earth - Dialogue Earth is an independent organisation dedicated to promoting a common understanding of the world's urgent environmental challenges. Read our privacy policy.

Cloudflare - Cloudflare is a service used for the purposes of increasing the security and performance of web sites and services. Read Cloudflare's privacy policy and terms of service.

Functional Cookies

Dialogue Earth uses several functional cookies to collect anonymous information such as the number of site visitors and the most popular pages. Keeping these cookies enabled helps us to improve our website.

Google Analytics - The Google Analytics cookies are used to gather anonymous information about how you use our websites. We use this information to improve our sites and report on the reach of our content. Read Google's privacy policy and terms of service.

Advertising Cookies

This website uses the following additional cookies:

Google Inc. - Google operates Google Ads, Display & Video 360, and Google Ad Manager. These services allow advertisers to plan, execute and analyze marketing programs with greater ease and efficiency, while enabling publishers to maximize their returns from online advertising. Note that you may see cookies placed by Google for advertising, including the opt out cookie, under the Google.com or DoubleClick.net domains.

Twitter - Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting. Simply find the accounts you find compelling and follow the conversations.

Facebook Inc. - Facebook is an online social networking service. China Dialogue aims to help guide our readers to content that they are interested in, so they can continue to read more of what they enjoy. If you are a social media user, then we are able to do this through a pixel provided by Facebook, which allows Facebook to place cookies on your web browser. For example, when a Facebook user returns to Facebook from our site, Facebook can identify them as part of a group of China Dialogue readers, and deliver them marketing messages from us, i.e. more of our content on biodiversity. Data that can be obtained through this is limited to the URL of the pages that have been visited and the limited information a browser might pass on, such as its IP address. In addition to the cookie controls that we mentioned above, if you are a Facebook user you can opt out by following this link.

Linkedin - LinkedIn is a business- and employment-oriented social networking service that operates via websites and mobile apps.