Lyari River - Pollution

Pollution

The river is the main contributor to an estimated amount of 200 million Imperial gallons (909.218 million litres) of raw sewage that enters the Arabian Sea. The only non-saline input is the local run-off from rainfall. A large number of industries including leather tanning units, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, refineries, chemical, textile, paper and pulp, engineering works and thermal power stations, located along the river, regularly discharge their untreated industrial waste. With the growing amount of organic nutrients in the river water, the marine ecology along the coastal shelf has been alarmingly affected. The spillage due to tidal action also continues to affect the mangroves along the Karachi coast. The pollutants along with other environmental perturbations have also proved to be harmful to the biodiversity of marine species along Karachi Fish Harbour including green turtle, seabirds and marine mammals.