Friday, May 27, 2022

Telangana has only two contaminated sites

By Siddharth Rao

Published: Updated On - 12:16 AM, Tue - 30 March 21

Noor Muhammad Kunta Lake in the Katedan Industrial Area. The TSPCB has already initiated remedial activities at the lake. As per CPCB assessment, seven other sites in the State have been listed as Probable Contaminated Sites

Hyderabad: Among the 21 States assessed by the Waste Management Division of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Telangana is among those with a low number of contaminated sites. The State has just two, the Noor Muhammad Kunta Lake in the Katedan Industrial Area and Patancheru in Medak.

Apart from these two sites, seven other sites in the State have been listed as Probable Contaminated Sites (PCS) in a December 2020 report. This is in stark contrast with States like Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, which have more than 20 PCS and CS each. Odisha has the highest number of contaminated sites, with 23 CS, while UP has 21 CS. Interestingly, UP has also the highest number of PCS, with 21 sites. Considering its area, the Union Territory of Delhi has perhaps the highest density of contaminated sites with 11 and a probable CS number of 12.

According to the CPCB, a contaminated site may include production area, landfill, dumps, spill sites, mine tailings etc., with some being sites where waste has been dumped historically. In such sites, there is contamination of soil, ground and surface water, with severe health and environmental risks.

Interestingly, some of these sites were developed when there were no regulations on the management of hazardous wastes and it resulted in industrial wastes being disposed of in an unscientific manner. These sites pose a threat to health and the environment in a multi-faceted manner, adversely affecting soil, water, ecology and ultimately people in the areas with exposure to toxic substances.

At the two sites in Telangana, the Telangana State Pollution Commission Board (TSPCB) has initiated remedial activities. At the Noor Muhammad Kunta Lake, once called the Pink Lake because of the pink colour of the contaminated surface water, the TSPCB submitted a detailed project report under the World Bank aided Capacity Building for Industrial Pollution Management Project and is awaiting action on the project.

At the other site, i.e. Patancheru, there has been a proposal to build a massive sewage treatment plant (STP), with a capacity of handling 30 million litres per day (MLD). The sampling of soil and surface water here showed no contamination.

In a similar manner, the PCS, Musi River, Asanikunta Lake, Maheshwaram, Chevella Industrial Area, LB Nagar Industrial Area, Moula Ali Industrial Area and Gundlapochampally Industrial Area have been studied with some areas showing chromium, lead, nickel and other metal contamination in the soil.

What is a contaminated site?

A contaminated site is where hazardous or other wastes have been dumped, resulting in contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water. These are listed as ‘Point Sites’, such as dumps of waste; ‘Area Sites’, where a broader area of contamination with on-going or historical contamination is seen; ‘Municipal Dumps’, which are dumps before the municipality took over and ‘Brown Fields’, which may or may not have clear ownership and have development potential if the contamination problems are solved.