Introduction:
While we debate over water shortages and argue about dirty pipelines, a different crisis is unfolding beneath the surface. Chemicals that quietly disrupt our hormones and health. These chemicals are known as endocrine disruptors, whichare found in everyday items around us. Plastics in food containers, pesticides, untreated industrial waste, medicines, and even personal-care products like soaps and lotions carry these chemicals. These chemicals have entered rivers, lakes, and groundwater and are now slipping into the water that we drink. Once these hormone-disruptors enter our body, they interfere with our hormone system by affecting growth, reproduction, metabolism, and even development in children. As a result, infertility rates are increasing. Thyroid disorders were not this common a generation ago. Girls are entering puberty at alarmingly young ages. There are mounting cases of hormone-related cancers.
Think of your body as a place where tiny messengers are going back and forth. They carry instructions on when to sleep, when to grow, and how to handle stress, among other things. Now imagine something slipping into your body and pretending to be one of those messengers, sending the wrong signals to the wrong parts of your body. This is what these endocrine-disrupting chemicals do. They don’t look dangerous and are tasteless, but they can confuse our entire system. Some studies have shown that even tiny amounts of these chemicals can interfere with hormones.
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How these chemicals seep into our water:
These chemicals don’t necessarily come from big industries. They are already woven into the most ordinary parts of our lives. Take plastic bottles, for example. These bottles contain a chemical called BPA. When you sit in a car under the afternoon sun, BPA quietly slips into the water inside. The bottle still looks clean, the water still tastes fine, but the damage is already done. Then there are products we use to wash our skin every day. Shampoo, lotions, makeup, body sprays, all of these contain phthalates. The moment they disappear into the drain, they travel through pipes and end up in the same rivers we later drink from.
Pesticides sprayed widely to protect crops get washed away by rain and mix straight into canals and groundwater. In cities, textile units, tanneries, and pharmaceutical plants release their waste directly into waterways without proper treatment. Even medicines play a role. Birth-control hormones and other drugs pass through our bodies and into sewage systems that were never designed to filter them out. So these residues find their way back into the water we use every day. What makes all of it frightening is how little of these chemicals it takes to create harm. We are not talking about big doses. Even trace amounts can mess with hormone balance. Women, babies and young children are at the most risk.
Why is Pakistan more at risk?
Our situation is complicated because the system around water is already fragile. In areas around the Indus, Ravi, Lyari, and Chenab, industries dump chemicals into the water without proper treatment. Plastic is everywhere. Pakistan uses millions of plastic bottles daily. In our heat, plastic degrades faster, releasing BPA and phthalates into the water. Bottled water, disposable packaging, and kitchen items are usually made of plastic. Pesticides are heavily used in farming. The runoff ends up in rural wells, contaminating the only source many families rely on.
Hospitals don’t have special systems to handle waste water that contains hormones or hormone-like chemicals. Most labs only check for germs or very basic chemicals. Testing for endocrine disruptors requires sophisticated equipment. Hardly any place in Pakistan screens for hormone-disrupting compounds because very few laboratories have the required technology.
In cities, the problem looks different. Cities like Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Karachi have industrial zones with inadequate waste management. Industrial waste seeps into groundwater, and residents in these areas are exposed to a mix of EDCs. In rural areas, the risks are different but just as serious. Pesticides from farms wash into wells and canals, from which many families drink without treatment. Clear water can still carry hidden toxins, affecting entire villages quietly.
The health crisis:
In Karachi industrial areas, families complain that their children deal with unexplained hormonal issues, skin reactions, and stomach problems even when they drink ‘filtered’ water. In the agricultural regions of Punjab, doctors have noticed unusual menstrual irregularities among teenage girls. In these areas, pesticide use is extremely high. Doctors are seeing girls as young as seven or eight showing signs of puberty. In interior Sindh, whole communities living near polluted drainage channels report thyroid symptoms and fertility issues. Fertility clinics are increasing across major cities. Couples who once would have conceived naturally are seeking assistance. Studies from around the world show clear links between EDC exposure and reduced sperm counts and poor egg quality.
Breast cancer rates are rising in Pakistan, with many cases appearing in younger women than previous generation. While multiple factors contribute, EDC exposure is increasingly recognized as a factor. Nobody connects these issues to water because endocrine disruptors don’t cause sudden sickness like contaminated food. Their impact stretches over months and years.
Pakistani researchers have been calling attention to this problem for years, but their concerns rarely travel beyond conference halls and scattered reports. Teams at places like Quaid-e-Azam University, Punjab University, and even PCSIR have found worrying levels of industrial chemicals in our major rivers. The sustainable development policy has also linked untreated factory waste with rising health issues. Yet, most of these findings never reach normal people. They stay tucked inside technical reports or policy documents that few outside the field ever read.
What Pakistan can do:
The situation is serious but not hopeless. Pakistan doesn’t need extremely expensive high-tech systems to reduce exposure. A few realistic steps can help.
Firstly, Proper treatment of drinking water is required. Even basic filtration and chemical treatment can remove most harmful substances before they reach drinking water sources.
Secondly, we need better regulations for the use of pesticides. Farmers often use pesticides without guidance. Training farmers, setting limits and monitoring sales can reduce how much of these chemicals end up in the water people drink every day.
Thirdly, we need to encourage people to stop heating and reusing old plastic bottles. Something as simple as avoiding reheated bottles or switching to metal/glass for hot drinks can cut down exposure inside homes.
Furthermore, we need awareness campaigns in schools and neighbourhoods. When people know why certain chemicals are dangerous, they change their habits faster. Low-cost testing tools like portable kits or basic local lab tests can quickly show which areas require attention. They don’t solve the problem, but they help target the places where contamination is silently building up.
Conclusion:
Pakistan cannot afford to ignore this threat. It can cause serious long-term health problems. If we continue treating only the visible symptoms of the water crisis, we will miss the actual threat that can affect our future generations
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References:
- Occurrence and risk evaluation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wastewater and surface water of Lahore, Pakistan
- State of the science of endocrine disrupting chemicals 2012
- A comprehensive review on water pollution, South Asia Region: Pakistan.
This article is contributed by: Maryam Latif, Maryam is a microbiology graduate who is passionate about climate change, sustainable solutions and environmental health.
