Elephantine task ahead,mostly manual

Cleaning up the coasts of Elephanta Island and Butcher Island,covered in oil since Monday,will take a herculean effort,much of it manual,and much with methods still uncertain.

We are unsure how to assess the damage. Authorities at Uran and Panvel along with villagers have started cleaning the coastline, said J Virkar,additional collector,Raigad,adding the work would have to be done manually.

But how do they plan to salvage the large patches of mangroves covered in oil? says Sudhir Mhatre,a villager. We have started collecting garbage in gunny bags,but only specialists can remove the layers of oil covering the mangroves and the rocks, said Pandurang Magdum,deputy collector,Panvel.

This (gunny bags) is the internationally accepted method. Even the Coast Guard has advised us to follow it, said the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board (MPCB) spokesperson. We have asked the district administrations to use gunny bags. The oil has to be manually scraped off the affected area,the gunny bags to be later disposed of in an isolated area.

Different approaches will have to be taken for sand,rock and mangrove. When oil spills on beach sand,microbes that thrive on oil can be added to the soil. It has to manually scrapped,which is a tasking job. On rocks,sawdust can be sprayed; this will help absorb the oil. Once the sawdust is washed off in the tide,the sawdust can be degraded in the sea, said Rakesh Kumar,director National Institute of Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram