or 40-year-old Raja Rizwan, owner of a car wash plant in Gulberg, Eid brought “great business.”

“We had over 300 vehicles washed and serviced ahead of Eid,” he tells The News on Sunday. “I was able to gift a hefty eidi to my staff.”

Interestingly, it wasn’t due to the number of customers he received, but because he was able to save on water. Eight months ago, following a Punjab government directive that banned opening of new car wash plants across the province, Rizwan was compelled to install shallow-depth water pumps and embrace the water recycling technology. “Now, we hardly use water from the WASA lines,” he adds. “This has brought our water bills down considerably.”

The government’s directive came after Punjab received rainfall that was 42 percent less than normal, between September 1, and January 15. The green bench of the Lahore High Court, presided over by Justice Shahid Karim, took notice of the water waste— up to 400L per wash — at car service stations and prompted the Environment Protection Agency to do the needful.

Later, Dr Imran Hamid Sheikh, the EPA director general, imposed a complete ban on setting up new car wash stations in the Punjab.

Rizwan is not convinced. He says, “The recycling units ensure that water is not wasted, so why the ban? After the [water recycling] unit is installed, you can calculate for yourself — 400 litres is not used on a car wash.”

Ali Ijaz, the EPA deputy director, says the ban is temporary and will be withdrawn once conditions return to normal. He also says that the department is supposed to play its role in dealing with a “water emergency.”

Abuzar Saeed, a spokesperson for the WASA, says that in 2018, only 150 service stations were registered with the agency. Over time, the number of these stations has risen to 450. This means more water use. As per WASA, on an average, 200 L of water is used on a small car and 300 L on a large vehicle.

In 2018, the WASA was overseeing the drive to install water recycling units, and started imposing fine on violators. Rizwan says he installed the unit last year after he was fined. “But I now realise it was worth investing in.”

For Ijaz, recycling units are helping save “an estimated 350,000 gallons of groundwater on a daily basis.”

“The EPA should be transparent about enforcement [of the ban]. The public has the right to know how many fines have been issued, how many [service] stations shut down, how many warnings given.”

he switch isn’t going to be easy, as technology requires investment and modifications at the service stations. But as the drive picked momentum, 450 car wash stations had installed water recycling units.

These recycling units are anything but simple. Each unit comprises three critical components. First is the sedimentation and grease trap — a network of collection galleries around the wash area that channel wastewater into underground tanks. Here, sediment settles and oil separates out.

The second phase is the prefabricated plant. A vacuum pump draws in the pre-treated water and sends it through a cleaning system. A chemical dozer or skimmer removes soap and bacteria, while a sand filter eliminates suspended solids and turbidity. This is followed by a carbon filter that handles decolouring and deodorising, ensuring that even minute organic molecules are scrubbed away.

Finally, the water thus cleaned is stored in an underground tank, ready for reuse.

Enviorment journalist Samiullah Randhawa believes that many unregistered service stations continue to operate in the city. He says that the EPA has warned against setting up new car wash stations and has “also banned home car wash. They just want to look good. They are ignoring the more effective available solutions.

“Instead of using the Punjab Water Act 2019, which clearly states that individuals and businesses responsible for water mismanagement be slapped with fines, legal warnings and jail terms; the EPA chose to issue a fresh directive.”

He also quotes the “2021 judicial water order” which talks of allowing car wash only after recycling units have been installed.

“The Punjab Water Act 2019 not only applies to car wash but also to other large water users such as construction sites and farms that use groundwater without any checks,” he adds.

According to Randhawa, the Lahore High Court has repeatedly pushed for serious action, especially after hearing cases related to water waste and environmental pollution. It is imperative that the housing societies responsible for wasting water are punished. “The EPA has failed to take action against these large users of water,” he says. “The EPA should be transparent about enforcement. The public has the right to know how many fines have been issued, how many [service] stations shut down, how many warnings given. What we hear instead is that new stations are not allowed to come up.”

Ahsan Malik is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship