Urban air pollution costing billions to national kitty

With an estimated 35 percent of its population living in cities, Pakistan is the most urbanized country in South Asia. Its cities continue to grow, offering employment, better living conditions and basic amenities and facilities least found in rural areas.
But this rapid urbanization has been accompanied by environmental problems such as pollution, waste management, congestion and the destruction of fragile ecosystems.
Masses are exposed to industrial and vehicular emission and GreenHouse gases, suffering from diseases like gastrointestinal effects and anaemia, both in children and adults. Exposure to lead contamination is the most damaging, causing cardiovascular diseases acute respiratory and chronic obstructive diseases.
Urban pollution remains one of the most significant environmental problems facing our cities and costing billions of rupees annually to national kitty. A recent study conducted by the World Bank has recorded these damages at Rs 62-65 billions annually or one per cent of GDP.
“Urban air particulate pollution is also estimated to cause around 22,000 premature deaths among adults and 700 deaths among young children,” the study claims.
High concentration of suspended particulate adversely affect human health with the most hazardous being the fine particulate of 10 microns in diameter (PM10) or smaller.
Worldwide, fine particulate are implicated in 500,000 premature deaths and 415 million new cases of chronic bronchitis. In urban Pakistan, major sourcesof fine particulate pollution are vehicles, combustion of fossil fuels in factories and power plants.
Director General, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) Asif Shuja Khan also mentioned to exceeded pollution of suspended particulate matters in the air and calculated them four to five times higher than the prescribed standards.
“Particulate matters were recorded at 135 microgram per meter cube in Islamabad against the standard 35 microgram per meter cube,” he said.
“These figures stood at 150 in Lahore as the situation was better in Karachi, although rising nitrogen and ethane contamination was a concern in Karachi” he added. The problem is aggravated by an aging fleet of vehicles in poor mechanical condition and low levels of fuel efficiency. Over past decade the number of diesel trucks had increased dramatically, creating additional pollution.
Asif Shuja noted the leakage of methane from CNG stations as one of the major polluter and a contributor to climate change.
“Till now 1400 CNG stations are working in the country with 900,000 vehicles already shifted to CNG,” he added. “Leakage of methane from these stations is equally damaging for environment,” he added. Ambient concentrations of particulate in cities also lie consistently, two to four times above the WHO guidelines and recommended levels.
Airborne lead is another harmful particulate pollutants. Young children are especially vulnerable to it as lead poisoning causes learning disabilities, hearing loss, behavioral abnormalities and IQ level effects in children.
In adults, lead absorption causes hypertension, blood pressure and heart disease. Lead exposure can come through breathing with its original sources including leaded gasoline, industrial lead emissions to air, water and land, its mixing with drinking water, contaminated food, lead paint and pottery.
Experience suggests a 39 percent decrease of lead in blood over 5-year period, or 7.8 percent annually. The conservative monetary cost in terms of lead related pollution falls between Rs 38-52 billion a year.
Recognizing the gravity of the problem, the government intervened to ban lead from gasoline. Although in 2001-2002, all major refineries announced to move to production of lead free gasoline, yet the health impacts persist as lead deposits accumulated in soils and water tend do not dissipate easily.
Asif Shuja says, the government under its Clean Air Program has installed air pollution monitoring system at federal and provincial capitals. Centralized data is gathered at the laboratory set up in Islamabad. Shuja said the government is introducing Euro 2 standard and the petrol and gas vehicles would start following it by 2008. For diesel vehicles, he said, the cut off date is July 2009 as the government is also consulting with the petroleum companies to bring down sulphur usage.
The government, he said, is also trying to introduce clean fuels, regular inspection of vehicles, installation of pollution control devices at industrial units and discourage use of fuels emitting GHGs. Indoor air pollution is another serious problem due to use of traditional biomass fuels such as wood, dung and crop residues.
According to the 1998 Pakistan Census, 86 percent of rural households and 32 percent of urban households rely on these modes as primary cooking fuel. Biomass burnt in poorly ventilated homes has severe health consequences for women, young children and elderly people.
Indoor air pollution due to varying levels of concentration, accounts for over 28,000 deaths a year and 40 million cases of acute respiratory illness. It also costs the national kitty in billions (around Rs 60 billion). Air pollution as a whole puts significant economic burden and warrants considerably greater policy and analytical attention. As efforts are already afoot to deal with this challenge, there is dire need for concentrated efforts by all stakeholders to mitigate air pollution and ensure cleaner air for future generations.

—Aftab Zahoor (APP)