MUET Water Center organizes Executive Seminar on Industrial Wastewater Management: Towards Sustainable Solutions

The speakers said that focus on the innovative research, use, and expansion of Higg’s Index within the industry, and capitalizing the partnerships among the various stakeholders are needed to be expedited as to address the wastewater management, this they said in the executive seminar organized by organized by U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W), Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET) in collaboration with University of Utah, USA supported by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), on Monday at Karachi, whereas the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and WWF- Pakistan were the partners of the Seminar.

Vice President FPCCI Muslim Muhammadi, said that it is immensely important to cater to the problems associated with the environment in a coordinated manner by all stakeholders for the green future. He said this while speaking as Chief Guest in the opening session at a seminar on Industrial Wastewater Management: Towards sustainable solutions, He emphasized that there are serious environmental issues related to industries such as treatment of contaminated industrial wastewater which need to be addressed with the support of academia through research. There is no single recipe that can solve water-related problems of all industries. The nature of pollution load and the quantum of wastewater generation vary from industry to industry. Thus the options for wastewater treatment and recycling also vary with the type of industry. For example, the water-related problems of the textile industry are entirely different from a tannery industry or a pharmaceutical industry. He told that the issues related to wastewater generation are rather very alarming. On one hand, the quantum of annual wastewater generation in Pakistan is very high i.e. ~3.2 MAF, and industrial wastewater constitutes roughly 6% of total wastewater generated. The other side of the story is that this wastewater is generally disposed into streams, canals, rivers or Arabian Sea without any treatment, thus leading health and environmental issues. We all recognize that industries play a vital role in the economy of Pakistan, accounting for ~24% of GDP. Yet their growth is severely constrained either due to insufficient access to water or because they have not adopted water treatment/ recycling technologies suited to their needs. Consequently, it leads to the problems of water stress and water quality.

He said that we at the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) reiterate our resolve to strengthen the ties between business and academia and hope that the standing committee on business academia Research and Development (R&D) on water resources will prove extremely useful in achieving this goal.  Senator A. Haseeb Khan said that industry-academia collaboration is a very week and needs to be strengthened. He emphasized that the recommendations of today’s seminar shall be implemented in their complete letter & spirit.

Representatives of different industry and the professors from Mehran University and the University of Utah USA gave presentations on the technical session of the seminar. Mr. Taj Hussain, Certification and Business Enhancement, SGS talked on Challenges and Opportunities for Adapting Higg Index in Pakistan’s Industrial Sector. Mr. Zeeshan Mazahir, Artistic Fabric, and Garment Industries, Karachi spoke on Improvement in Environment and product quality through Higg index. Dr. Jennifer Weidhaas, Professor of the University of Utah USA made a presentation on Collaborative participation of Academia/Civil Society/Government bodies for efficient industrial wastewater man…