JOIN USUnchecked and unregulated, hundreds of electroplating and e-waste recycling units in the City’s industrial pockets discharge highly polluting chemicals into the water streams and lakes.
From a distance, the lake appeared deceptively picturesque. The mountain of white, syrupy foam on its surface lent an aura of filmy fantasy to the setting. But one closer, probing look sufficed to bring home the ugly truth in all its horror: A deadly concoction of phosphates, nitrates and myriad industrial pollutants had combined to create that lather effect.
It was a morbid sign that the lake was in deep decay, just a step away from eventual death! Threatened to extinction, it was a loud warning: That the city’s 86 surviving lakes would meet a similar fate. Most surely it would, if immediate steps weren’t underway to stem the blatant inflow of untreated domestic and industrial sewage.
Only four city lakes have recovered from the deadly onslaught of these toxic pollutants, as Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) chairman, Vaman Acharya informs. The rest, even if they appear irreversibly lost, could still be saved. But that demands an infusion of big funds to build sewage treatment plants for every lake, diversion of all sewage, massive desilting and an iron grip on polluting industries.
Despite reigning in the big industries, which were once guilty of enormous water, ground and air pollution, KSPCB now faces a serious challenge from hundreds of small electroplating industrial units. This has emerged as a problem of huge proportions in the industrial belts of Peenya, Mahadevapura and Hosur road.
Flourishing despite raids
These units are very small, operating from 10’x10’ tents within residential areas. Violating every norm, they either discharge highly toxic water into the ground or directly into drains. “In March 2014, we raided over a hundred such units and closed them all. But hundred others shifted and disappeared, resurfacing elsewhere. We are still trying to locate them,” says Acharya.
In Peenya, decades of unchecked industrial pollution has crippled the ground water system. Successive studies by various agencies have clearly established that almost 90 per cent of the ground water and surface water are unfit for drinking. Residents here complain of serious health hazards from a deadly mix of air, water and soil pollution.
Severely affected by the open discharge of chemical waste from dye-making units in Laggere, Shankar, a long-time resident of the area is often down with lung congestion. Cases of dysentry are also frequent in the locality. Open pits filled with industrial effluents could be seen lurking near small scall units in the vicinity. Dust perennially hangs in the air. So does the chemical stench. As Latha, a resident of Heggenahalli main road, says, there is no escape from this multi-pronged pollution.
Over 2,100 industries are packed in an area of about 40 sqkms in the Peenya estate. Engaged in chemical, leather, pharmaceutical, electroplating, polymer and allied sectors since the late 1970s, these industries are in close proximity to residential areas.
Here’s what an assessment of the water quality here by M.S. Nagaraja Gupta and C. Sadashivaiah, last year, concluded: “Most of the study area is highly polluted, because of the excessive concentration of one or more water quality parameters such as pH, total hardness, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, salinity, alkalinity, acidity and electrical conductivity.”
An earlier survey of 72 borewells in the area, conducted by KSPCB, had found that 20 of them had abnormally high chromium content. Chromium is a carcinogenic metal known to cause lung, skin and kidney diseases. The levels even touched 700 times the limit prescribed.
Strict enforcement
So, what is the way out? “Strict enforcement of legislation for industries, setting up effluent treatment plants, replacement of damaged pipelines and lining of sewer drains to prevent leakage of sewage in pipes and seepage through unlined channels, and prevention of mixing or leaking of sewage with groundwater.”
Pollution Board officials claim they have ensured that most big and medium industries follow zero discharge procedures. But there are also industries that are permitted to take their effluents in small quantities to the 14 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP).
A few other industries are allowed to discharge the effluents into the BWSSB’s underground drainage system, provided the waste goes through a primary or secondary treatment process first.
But, as former BWSSB Chief Engineer M N Thippeswamy insists, the industrial discharge, even if they are treated in-house, should be checked for quality. The Biochemical Oxidant Demand (BOD) should not cross 500 mg/L and Chemical Oxygen Demand should remain within 1,000 mg/L. “Often, the COD is way beyond 1,500 mg/L. So is the BOD,” he notes.
Use technology
Industries have been caught dumping untreated effluents into the CETP without any permission. The monitoring mechanism should be strict, says Thippeswamy. “Even some big industries are guilty of this illegal dumping. Though some industries have their own treatment plants, many are not functional.”
KSPCB, he feels, should act more decisively. To boost round-the-clock surveillance of water quality, he suggests installation of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) gadgets at the spot where the effluents are finally let out from industrial units.
Real-time data from SCADA can be remotely monitored from a KSPCB office. BWSSB could also check the quality of treated water emanating from the city’s 14 CETPs. “This way, the average BOD levels can be tracked on a daily or even hourly basis. When the levels exceed limits, alarms are automatically triggered. Penalties and perhaps, even unit closures can thus be better coordinated.”
e-waste recyclers
But even with technology, can the overcrowded small and micro-level informal industrial units be checked? In the words of Meenakshi from Saahas, an NGO active in the waste management sector, almost 96 per cent of e-waste generated is recycled by the highly unregulated informal sector.
Bengaluru is estimated to generate about 57,000 metric tonnes of e-waste annually. Spread across three to four pockets in the city, thousands of people are engaged in the business of extracting precious metals from old TV parts, discarded refrigerators and other electronic equipment. Waste water and polluted air from these units directly get into the environment, completely unchecked!
But domestic discharge of nitrates and phosphates directly into the storm water drains and UGDs from thousands of households is equally unregulated. Both BWSSB and KSPCB officials blame civil society for contributing to foam formation in lakes. As Acharya says, “the lather formation is also due to detergents that essentially come out of houses and apartments. These chemicals are extremely harmful for aquatic life in lakes.”