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G.K. Nair

Kochi , Oct. 20

ENVIRONMENTAL pollution caused by waste material is a major health hazard in almost all developing urban settlements in the country. Yet, the socio-cultural and the techno-economic angles of the issue do not receive the required attention at the appropriate levels of planning and implementation in the country.

For instance, Kochi City with a population of eight lakh people generates around 400 MT of solid waste everyday. Around 60 per cent of the generated waste is collected by the Corporation and dumped at identified land fill sites at Willingdon Island, Cheranallor and Brahmapuram and the rest is dumped to the roadsides, canals and drains. Waste generation increases year by year on account of growing population, increased consumption and increasing presence of difficult to degrade substances in the waste streams.

Lack of adequate civic sense, public awareness and participation, lukewarm approach of the local and State-level governments have resulted in a situation that most of the beautiful landscapes are slowly turned into litter zones, says Mr M P Sukumaran Nair, former Chairman, Institution of Engineers India (IEI) here and an environmental expert.

According to a study he conducted recently, the environmental impacts of the wastes are that these substance get into water bodies, pollute air, clog sewers and drains, pollute water distribution networks, serve as breeding ground for several pathogens, get littered all around by birds, insects, rodents etc, degrade sanitation and spoil aesthetic neighbourhoods.

The urban life is rendered prone to outbreaks of epidemics such as gastro-enteritis, cholera, typhoid etc in the absence of well-managed treatment facilities intended for urban waste. The present system of part collection of the waste from the city, spreading and covering it with gravel is not at all a scientific and adequate mode of safe disposal.

Existing law demands that every municipal authority shall be responsible for the implementation of the provisions of the rules, and for any infrastructure development for collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes. The waste processing and disposal facilities to be set up by the municipal authority, on their own or through an operator of a facility, shall meet the specifications and standards.

Though there is a strong manpower force of 647 personnel in Kochi Municipal Corporation, no regular sweeping of all roads in the city is done. Existing arrangements for waste removal from markets and commercial streets are grossly inadequate and are not cleared on Sundays and holidays.

Non-availability of sufficient number of properly designed trucks and carts pose a major problem in handling the waste. Lack of sufficient number of sanitary workers very often impair maintenance of canals especially in the city known for its mosquito menace.

The sanitary waste disposal system covers only 20 per cent of the households, as there is only one sewerage treatment plant. Those who are not connected to the sewerage system discharge their soak pits to public canals. So do the high-rise buildings.

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