ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change flagged major climate and environmental hazards on Thursday.
A the committee’s meeting, Senator Sherry Rehman presided over a wide-ranging review of environmental failures, warning that untreated sewage flowing into Rawal Dam, worsening air pollution and rapid deforestation posed a direct threat to public health and climate resilience.
The committee examined institutional lapses that had allowed Islamabad and Rawalpindi’s primary water source to be contaminated, deteriorating air quality driven by vehicular emissions, industrial activity and construction dust and accelerated forest loss in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially in Chitral, due to illegal logging and policy exploitation.
Ms Rehman cautioned that fragmented responses and continued delays would face strict parliamentary scrutiny.
Officials informed the committee that tendering for three sewage treatment plants (STPs) linked to Rawal Dam had just begun despite the issue being discussed for nearly two years.
It also emerged that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had not formally sought funds from the planning division, nor was there any interim arrangement to stop untreated sewage from entering the dam.
Expressing deep concern, Ms Rehman said Rawal Dam was turning into “a cesspool of bacteria”, with around nine million gallons of sewage flowing into it daily.
“This poses serious risks of waterborne diseases, including polio and other infections,” she said, adding the failure of the country’s wealthiest civic authority to protect drinking water could no longer be termed mere negligence. “This is a public health emergency.”
She announced that a special meeting would be convened with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, the CDA chairman and the planning division.
The CDA chairman was directed to appear before the committee at its next meeting with accountability to be fixed for delays in tendering and the failure to seek funds.
Air pollution also came under focus as the committee reviewed presentations from the Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa environmental protection agencies. Industrial zones were reported to be showing pollution spikes while vehicular emissions accounted for up to 58 percent of pollution in KP and 23 percent in Sindh.
Severe construction and road dust, particularly from mega projects, was also highlighted.
“Pollution is Pakistan’s biggest silent killer, yet mortality and morbidity data is missing from provincial submissions,” Ms Rehman said, stressing the need for uniform air quality parameters across all districts. She questioned the credibility of data in areas without ground-based monitors and criticised averaging methods that dilute peak daytime pollution levels.
The Sindh EPA secretary informed the committee that 558 brick kilns were operating in the province, with 189 environmental protection orders issued and prosecutions under way.
Methane emissions were flagged as being 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide, prompting the committee to urge provinces to link methane reduction projects to carbon markets and ensure industrial compliance with emerging Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms.
The committee also expressed grave concern over rapid de-greening in Chitral and KP. Sherry Rehman pointed to decades-long illegal logging, the exploitation of the wood lot policy and the influence of the timber mafia.
“KP’s forests are the jewel in the crown and must be protected,” she said, calling for alternatives such as solar energy for poor communities to reduce dependence on forest resources. She announced that the next committee agenda would focus exclusively on deforestation.
Additionally, she directed the NDMA, Pakistan Meteorological Department, Flood Commission and relevant ministries to urgently develop a coordinated early warning system to replace fragmented responses.
She said Pakistan could not build resilience without clean drinking water, clean air and protected forests, reiterating that safeguarding public health and natural resources was a fundamental responsibility of the state.
Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2025
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