On 15 January 2026 a Pak-EPA team carried out an inspection of the Sewage Treatment Plant in Sector I-9/1, Islamabad to review the operational status of its unit processes. The visit focused on assessing which treatment phases were functional and how much wastewater the facility was currently handling.
Inspectors found that three phases of the I-9 Sewage Plant were non-functional, while Phase IV remained operational and was treating approximately 1.5 MGD of wastewater. This throughput is far below the plant’s designed capacity of 10 MGD, with officials attributing the shortfall primarily to leakages and clogging within the sewerage network feeding the facility.
The team observed that treated effluent from the operational phase was being discharged into Nullah Lai rather than being recovered for landscaping or horticultural use. Discharging into the nullah instead of promoting reuse limits both water conservation opportunities and local environmental benefits.
Environmental samples were collected at multiple points across the site and submitted to the CLEAN lab of Pak-EPA for analysis to determine compliance with National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for municipal effluent. The inspection underscores the need for repairs and rehabilitation of the sewer network to enable the I-9 Sewage Plant to reach its intended capacity and support safe effluent reuse in Islamabad.
