Karachi, the metropolitan city of Pakistan, facing different problems which not only effect the public health but also the environment. We as a human being are the main reason for the deterioration of our environment. Our modern lifestyle causes sustainability issues which darken the future of next generation. In this report, an overview of the marine pollution was given along Karachi coastline.

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CONTENTS
1. Background.....................................................................................................................3
2. Introduction ....................................................................................................................3
3. State of pollution along karachi harbour.........................................................................4
4. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................8
5. Recommendations...........................................................................................................9
References..................................................................................................................................9

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1. BACKGROUND
Karachi, the nourishing city of over 18 million people also known as the city of lights, has
70km long coastal line as shown in Figure 1.1.1. In everyday of life, this metropolitan city
not only faces different problems, but its water bodies also challenge itself by sinking
different forms of pollutants from lithosphere, atmosphere or even from the microbial
activities in it every day, which highlight the problems occurs in the marine environment and
the adjacent coastal areas and need to be monitored and managed.
Figure 1.1.1 Map of Coastline of Pakistan [1].
From one of the report, around 472 mgd (millions gallon per day) of industrial and municipal
wastewater is generated which is directly disposed (treated/ untreated form) to marine
environment through rivers or their estuaries (mainly Layari and Malir river), from which
26% of the effluent carries by the Malir river and enters the sea through Gizri-Korangi creek
while the Layari river carries 73.5% which reach through Karachi harbor. These effluents
contain load of pollutants, that’s why, the monitoring of the coastline and the marine water
becomes essential because of these discharged discussed above which causes the adverse
effect not only to the marine life but to the eco-system as well [2].
2. INTRODUCTION
Ocean have the ability to sink all pollutants and is called the natural reservoir as it covers the
70% of the Earth’s surface. There are different sources which contribute to the marine
pollution, among them, the major contributor is anthropogenic activities or land pollution
because 80% (approx.) of the pollution comes from the land to the marine environment [3].
Pollutant is defined as “Something in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong

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quantity [4].” The concentration of contaminants dumped in the water bodies make it
pollutant. The most frequent way for the contaminants to enter the marine environment is
through estuaries. These pollution can either be degradable or non-degradable or in between
the range as found in aquatic environment depend on their sources whether point sources or
non-point sources. Table 2-1 gives the classification of aquatic pollutants according to their
biodegradability.
Table 2-1 Classification of aquatic pollutants according to their degradability [5].
Degradable Non-degradable
Sewage and farm manures Inert particulates (clay, colliery wastes, etc.)
Agricultural fertilizers and plant nutrients Man-made plastics
Food-processing waste Heavy metals (i.e. lead, chromium, copper)
Organic paper-mill waste Halogenated hydrocarbons (DDT, PCBs)
Industrial waste (petrochemical) Radioactivity
Oils Acids and alkalis
Anions of sulphide and sulphate Industrial emission gases
Detergents Organophosphates
Oil dispersants
The other source would be the pollutants from the atmosphere, as the particulate pollutants
may fall-out and get into sea directly while the non-particulate enters through precipitation. It
is needed to monitor and control the pollution as only the total global input of lead from the
natural or man-made sources to the sea is estimated to be 400,000 tons/year of which half of
this because of atmospheric pollution [5].
3. STATE OF POLLUTION ALONG KARACHI HARBOUR
The discharge of the municipal and commercial waste water to the marine environment has
been practiced for decades but with the rapid increase of the population and modern lifestyle
,it needs to be treated before dumping to sea so the concentration of the pollutants would
decrease. Monitoring of the karachi harbor has not been done on regular basis while there are
three main location from which the sea water receives discharge namely [6]:
1. The Manora channel, receives the effluents from the Layari river. The effluents from the
commercial (S.I.T.E area) and municipal sector of northern and central districts turned

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this river into open drain which not only affect the port but the fish harbor and the
adjacent beaches.
2. The discharge from the Malir river has received by The Gizri creek, while
3. The discharge from the southern district of karachi and untreated wastewater are received
by the channel between the Manora and Gizri creek.
A recent study was carried out to suspect the pollutants present in the marine environment
along the karachi coastline by Seema Jilani [7], samples were collected from Layari river and
adjoining costal areas of karachi namely: Fish harbor, netty jetty, west wharf naval dockyard
and sandspit. These samples were tested, and the results were compared to the previously
conducted research back in 1990s. The analysis showed the depletion of the pH level while
the distribution of heavy metals found as: Zn > Mn > Fe > Cu > Ni >Pb as shown in Figure
2.1
Figure 2.1: Concentration of heavy metals in the costal water [7].
These results showed the higher concentration of standard values of heavy metals and also
increment in the concentration from the previous research. The graph showed in the Figure
2.2 was the representation of the comparison of total solids and volatile solids from the past
research while the Table 3-1 showed the standard values of heavy metal for costal water
according to US EPA guidelines [7].

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Figure 2.2: Comparison of the concentration of (a) Total solids (TS) and (b) Volatile solids
(VS) from the current and previous research [7].
Table 3-1: Costal water quality standards [7].
Parameters (mg/L) US EPA guidelines
Copper 0.0031-0.02
Lead 0.008-0.1
Manganese 0.05-0.1
Iron 0.1-0.3
Zinc 0.1-0.5
Nickle <0.01
 KARACHI AT PRESENT
The figures shown below the current status of wastewater effluents discharge to the sea and
how it changed the natural waterbodies to the open drains.
Figure 2.3: Discharge of effluents from municipal and commercial wastewater to marine
environment.
Figure 2.4: Effluents from the adjacent areas.

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Figure 2.3: Discharge of effluents from municipal and commercial wastewater to marine
environment.
Figure 2.4: Effluents from the adjacent areas.
Figure 2.5 and Figure 2.6 shows the estuaries of Layari and Malir river and discharge from
the waste water treatment plant, the change of the color showed the deterioration of the
mangroves and also the marine environment.

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Figure 2.5: Effluents from the Layari river, sewage water treatment plant and from Industrial
area.
Figure 2.6: Municipal discharge from Shah Faisal to Malir river estuaries.
4. CONCLUSION
The current profile of pollutants present in the marine environment of karachi leads to the
alarming situation, if it is not started to control yet then the sustainability goal will become
more difficult to achieve, because as the concentration of pollutants increase it will cause the
adverse effect to the marine communities and health effect to human beings as it is a close
cycle.

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5. RECOMMENDATIONS.
The monitoring of the karachi costal area should be done on yearly basis.
The untreated discharge of sewage water to estuaries should be done after treatment, while
the proper management system and environmental guidelines should be followed for
fisheries, ports or harbors.
Awareness programs should be conducted, and application and feasibility of the research
should approach.
REFERENCES
[1] W. of Pakistan, “Section 5: Coastline.” [Online]. Available:
http://www.wildlifeofpakistan.com/IntroductiontoPakistan/coastlineofPakistan.htm.
[2] S. Jilani, “Assessment of heavy metal pollution in Lyari river and adjoining coastal
areas of Karachi,” Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences, vol. 6, no. 2,
pp. 208–214, 2015.
[3] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “What is the biggest source of
pollution in the ocean?,” 06/25/18. [Online]. Available:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pollution.html.
[4] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Nonpoint Source Pollution.”
[Online]. Available:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_pollution/welcome.html.
[5] G. Kiely, Environmental Engineering. McGraw- Hill, 1998.
[6] M. arshed ali Beg, “Ecological imbalances in the coastal areas of Pakistan and Karachi
Harbour,” Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 159–174, 1995.
[7] S. Jilani, “Present pollution profile of Karachi coastal waters,” Journal of coastal
conservation, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 325–332, 2018.