ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF HOUSING SCHEME WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DRINKING WATER QUALITY

This study was conducted on Taru-Jabba housing scheme which was designed without Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). In Pakistan, for housing schemes Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) study is compulsory but exempted from detail EIA and periodic monitoring. It is a general perception that EIA focus on impacts of human on environment. Impacts of environment on human is usually not considered in EIA. In this paper, an attempt has been made to know about the present status of ongoing construction and environment. The main focus is on availability and quality of water and its effects on residents. For this purpose, drinking water from different sources were characterized for physical and chemical parameters and compared with water quality guidelines standards. It was found that water quality of dug-well is not complying drinking water quality standards. Water quality of tube-well was comparatively good. It was concluded that the ground water will affect the health of local residents. It was, therefore, recommended to make periodic monitoring mandatory for housing schemes and make necessary arrangement for providing tube- well water to all the residents.