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Standards of forever chemicals in water need to be prescribed as soon as possible to protect public health, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) said December 19, 2024.
Forever chemicals have severe impact on human health and the standards need to be set to prevent the hazardous impact of water pollutionand to comply with the provisions of Water Act, 1974, the court noted.
Counsel appearing for the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) requested for filing a supplementary report / reply giving steps taken by CPCB for standardisation in respect of forever chemicals. The next hearing of the case would be on April 29, 2025.
The original application was registered suo-motu on the basis of a news item titled IIT Madras study reveals presence of forever chemicals in Chennai lakes drinking water in the news daily The Hindu on April 7, 2024. The matter relates to the presence of 'forever chemicals' Pre and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Buckingham Canal, Adyar river and Chembarambakkam Lake in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, according to a recent study conducted by IIT Madras.
CPCB, in its reply dated August 27, 2024, stated that only a limited number of monitoring studies have been conducted for perfluoroalkyl substances.
The monitoring of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in samples of tap water, drinking water and surface water was done for a maximum of two years (2006-2008) only.
Over the period of time (2006-2020), the concentrations of PFOA and PFOS have considerably increased, CPCB mentioned. For instance, the concentration of PFOA in drinking water samples collected from South India was less 0.005 nanogramme / litre in 2008 and 2 nanogramme / litre in 2015. Similarly, the concentrations of PFOS have also risen from less than 0.033 nanogramme / litre to 1 nanogramme / litre.
This gradual increase in concentrations of PFAS might be related to the shift of industrial production from developed countries to developing countries like China and India, due to the phase-out initiative taken by the US EPA via the Stewardship Program, the board noted.
For regulation of PFAS in India, CPCB added, the first step was to adopt the standard methods used for sampling analysis. The same is also required for PFOA. The reply also admitted the hazardous nature of PFOA and PFOS.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the reply observed, has not provided any standards for PFAS and drinking water. But the court said that will not absolve CPCB from prescribing standards for compliance of provisions of Water Act, 1974.
The court was also informed that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is coordinating a project "Review and update of National implementation plan on persistent organic pollutants" through CSIR-NEERI and NEERI is carrying out countrywide survey / inventory of manufacturing and usage of persistent organic compounds by industries, including PFAS manufacturing industries.
The NGT December 19, 2024 directed the constitution of a joint committee to obtain a factual report on the matter of high nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in the air in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The committee would comprise of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB); CPCB and Regional Director, Integrated Regional Office, MoEF&CC, Bengaluru. It would visit the site, collect relevant information and submit a factual report within two months with the registrar of the tribunal's southern zonal bench in Chennai.
The application was registered suo-motu taking cognisance of an news story published in the newspaper Deccan Herald on December 6, 2024. It stated that in 2023, the NO2 concentration in Bengaluru air was found to be twice the standards prescribed by the World Health Organization.
It recorded elevated NO2 levels for 295 days and the worst-hit area is City Railway Station, where the level of NO2 exceeded the standards of WHO for 295 days in 2023. Other highly polluted areas included Hombegowda Nagar (125 days), Bapuji Nagar (120 days) and Peenya (119 days).
Exposure to excessive NO2 has health impacts like risk of asthma, airway inflammation, respiratory irritation and worsening of existing respiratory conditions.
It can impair lung development, intensify allergies and increase susceptibility to respiratory mortality and death from circulatory diseases, ischemic health disease and even lung cancer.