Karachi's Polluted Lifeblood.

Karachi began its life on the banks of the Lyari river, its seasonal waters providing sustenance, structure, and drinking water in an otherwise inhospitable and arid landscape. Today that river carries only death and disease and has effectively become the sewer of the city. Every month, 9,000 tonnes of debris enter this river, almost entirely uncleaned, and more than 200 million gallons of untreated domestic and industrial waste are dumped into the channel every day. Once supporting an entire ecosystem, the river and its catchment area today produce a ceaseless effusion of black water churning with eddies of chemical foam. In continuation of the World Water Week theme of #SeeingTheUnseen, and keeping in mind the unimaginable tragedy caused by floods across the country, caused partially by encroachments on natural drainage channels, it is high time Pakistan looks to solve this dismal state of affairs. The environmental effects of this situation are dire; the contaminated waters pass through Pakistan's most densely populated area-Lyari Town-and empties directly into Karachi's coastal waters; degrading marine life, poisoning the food chain and negatively impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people residing along the channel.

The plastic contamination alone is of grave concern. Plastics are the second largest constituent of all waste produced in Karachi, after domestic waste, and their long non-biodegradable lifespans disrupt coastal fishing habitats-both physically and chemically. As the population in Pakistan's economic hub continues to mushroom, this river must be cleaned up. While restoring the river to its original state is a long shot at the moment, we can take steps to reduce its most egregious environmental hazards and begin the journey of restoring Karachi's hydrogeology, one step at a time. Before long-term structural changes to waste treatment and drainage can be instituted, the Lyari river must be cleaned up. The waste that it carries needs to be corralled at the mouth of the river and all floating plastic should be extracted before it can enter the ocean. As global attention turns to the problem of plastic contamination-efforts by The Ocean Cleanup project-a Dutch NGO-stand out. Using a series...