Strange but true

Strange but true

on january 6, the Gujarat High Court (ghc) formulated a plan to set up an environment audit scheme to tackle the menace of pollution in the state. The proposed audits would be conducted by the Gujarat pollution control board (gpcb) and would primarily apply to two categories of effluent discharging units. The ghc order asked units at Naroda, Odhav, Narol and Vatva estates to shut down industrial activities with effect from February 1, for polluting the environment and also criticised the gpcb for not taking actions against errant units in the state.

The ghc bench comprising justices C K Thakkar and M S Shah, ordered that electricity connection and water supply to all such units be discontinued by February 10 and urged the state government and the gpcb to prepare the format of environment audit reports by February 15.

The two categories of industries falling within the proposed audit's ambit are textile units having a daily discharge of one lakh litre of effluent per day and stainless steel rolling mills, and the chemical industry. Of these, the chemical industry, especially, chlorine-based and chlorine producing units, is particularly detrimental to health and the environment. Organochlorines are difficult to break down either in the environment or in the living tissue, the resultant products being more toxic.

For quite some time, Greenpeace International has been following the alarming rate of expansion of industries that use organochlorines in developing countries like India, China and Latin America. As part of its global campaign for gradually phasing out organochlorines -- also known as persistent organic pollutants (pops) -- Greenpeace visited certain key industrial sites in India to sample and analyse effluents. The resulting report, titled The Stranger , seeks to highlight the appalling levels of pollution generated by these units, complete callousness of the managements and inefficiency of regulating authorities.

India's expanding chlorine-based industry includes the primary production of elemental chlorine and its key uses in the paper and pulp industry and as the main ingredient for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride (pvc). Chlorinated pesticides, some of which are being phased out, are still being manufactured in India. ddt, ostensibly to be manufactured only by Hindustan Insecticides Limited, has been found in several other units' effluents. Impacts of these pesticides on animal and human health are well known.

But despite the perceptible danger, there is a question mark over the country's check and balance system. Existing common effluent treatment plants (cetp) in industrial units cannot cope with the volume of pollutants and clean-up technology has failed as a proper solution.
Poison cauldrons In a highly industrialised state like Gujarat, there is a lack of coordination between the state government and various agencies like the gpcb, the Gujarat industrial development corporation (gidc) and the Gujarat water supply and sewerage board (gwssb). Thousands of units spread over more than 180 industrial estates in Gujarat have been operating without any etps for quite some time. As per state norms, smallscale industries in gidc estates -- those using less than 20 kld (kilolitre per day) of water -- can have only primary treatment facilities; secondary treatment facilities were to be provided at the cetps by the gidc. This was confirmed by both K D Rathod, member-secretary, gpcb, and P R Gharekhan, former member-secretary, Central pollution control board (cpcb), who spoke to Down To Earth .

Only the Nandesari industrial estate in the state has a cetp. That too, however, observed the ghc, is inadequate. K B Bhagat, deputy chief engineer, gidc, said, "It is not the duty of the gidc to provide cetps. No industrial development corporation in any other state has taken up this responsibility. Even then, around 1990, we decided to take this up. The ministry of environment and forests (mef) warned us that we should not get into this business. It is the responsibility of the industries."

Rathod, on the other hand, says the gpcb does not have adequate powers. He says, "Gujarat is the only state in the country that has not ratified and implemented the 1988 amendments to the Water Pollution Act, 1974. That is a big handicap as the amendments give much stronger powers to the spcb, including section 33 a which gives powers to issue directions, ordering closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry, operation or process and directions regarding stoppage or regulation of supply of electricity, water, or any other service, among other sections. Why is nobody raising these issues?"

Criticising the gpcb, Bhagat said, "There seems to be an utter lack of will on the part of the gpcb to act against the offending units. It is important to note that there are very few industries in the chemical sector which can operate with less than 20-25 kld of water. The gpcb could not have granted them no objection certificates expecting cetps to come up later."

Caught redhanded
Analysis of samples by The Stranger indicates a mercury discharge of 3.26 mg/litre by Sriram Food and Fertiliser Industries of New Delhi into an open drain. This is about 65 times the limit permissible in Europe. Interestingly, the above mentioned contaminant level was revealed not in the effluent pipe, but in a nullah downstream with excess ddt. High levels of mercury discharge have also been found in the effluent from the Chemplast Sanmar pvc complex, Mettur dam, Tamil Nadu, which flows into an open channel emptying into the Cauvery river. Mercury discharges were found in the soft sediments below actual discharges with levels upto 150 mg/kg sediment -- more than 500 times the normal level.

In the paper and pulp industry sector of India, pulp operations have been found to consume 250-450 cu m of water per tonne of produce as compared to average water usage of 72 cu m elsewhere. The Southern Indian Viscose Limited, Sirumugai, Tamil Nadu, has reportedly released large volumes of organic effluents into the Bhavani river. Out of 56 com pounds, only 14 toxic ones were isolated, stated The Stranger .

This unit attained notoriety in the 1980s when drinking water in the area had turned brown because of the presence of lignin (a chemical industrially used as a binding agent), fishery operations were stalled and people abandoned cultivation and resorted to stone-cutting. Following this the unit had closed down. Now after promising to set up an activated sludge treatment plant, the unit is planning to expand. No mention, however, has been made of the use or removal of pops. At the Central Pulp Mills in Gujarat, a complex range of compounds was isolated from the main effluent. Out of the 64 compounds isolated and 26 identified, eight were pops.

The Greenpeace report was recently discussed in a meeting chaired by Anil Agarwal, director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, attended by representatives of the gpcb, ngos and chemical manufacturers and users. While Greenpeace was accused of sensationalising the findings, it in turn accused the gpcb of systematically harming the environment for the last 30 years. The meeting noted the ngo sector's weakness in lobbying the government to take action against polluting units.