Tanneries, distilleries continue to dirty the Yamuna waters

Twelve tanneries and five distilleries did instal ETPs costing Rs 1.5 crore each. And pollution control watch-dogs like the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) as well as the state pollution control board congratulated themselves on taking to task the polluting industries. In most of the units, the ETPs are not run to their full capacity because of the high electricity cost. Even though these plants are now made indigenously, the maintenance and repairs is an overhead which is the first casualty. And most units do not have trained personnel to operate the sophisticated equipment.

A visit to the area, however, makes it evident that the water-treatment is a hogwash in most cases. By the colour of the waste water, one can make out that the ETPs are only partially effective and effluents continue to pollute the Yamuna.

The Haiderpur water treatment plant — situated at the spot just after the Yamuna enters the Capital — has to close down occasionally because the quality of water becomes untreatable. The red and black colour of water shows the presence of high biological oxygen demand (BOD).

Says one of the senior engineers at the plant: “This is not a regular feature. It happens either when the small-scale tanneries get business or when the bigger ones do not operate their ETPs. The last time the plant had to shut down was in December last year.”

The Haiderpur plant operated by the Jal Board handles 910 million litres per day, out of a total of 2,728 million litres per day treated by the six treatment plants in Delhi. Nearly 35 per cent population of Delhi consumes water treated by this plant.

Back in Sonepat, repeated pleas for a visit to the manufacturers of locally circulated Murthal Number One, liquor made by Frost Falcon distillaries, to see their ETP were stonewalled. A peek inside the unit’s backyard revealed the story behind the murky waters in the Yamuna: Light-brown coloured water reeking of molasses was being discharged into a drain which later empties into the river.

Sonepat-based Bharat Leathers also turned down requests for a visit. The unit discharges its waste water in drain number eight the contents of which are brown in colour. This drain merges into the Western Yamuna Canal, the primary source of water for Delhi. Three other tanneries along the same stretch have forbiddingly-tight security and workers turned edgy at the very mention of ETPs. Jal Board officials say that there are tanneries which operate only at night. These let out their effluents silently into drain number eight under the cover of darkness and shut down before sunrise. These fly-by-night operators are difficult to locate and pin down.

Another factory, government-owned Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills, has been prevented from operating their distillery by the Haryana Pollution Control Board. Officials say that they are not being allowed to operate even though they have their ETP in place. Chairman of CPCB Dilip Biswas explains: “Although the machinery and the technical knowhow is in place, the will to operate it is not there. We do not have adequate personnel for constant surveillance.” The CPCB has stressed on the need for locals to cooperate and warn the authorities if they see that the industries are defaulting in the use of ETPs. Effluents from distilleries seem harmless as liquor is brewed from organic matter like molasses but it causes irreparable damage to the water. According to R.C. Trivedi, a scientist with the CPCB who has worked on the Yamuna for the last 15 years, the waste sugar when mixed with water gets oxidised. The bacterial content in the water increases as more oxygen is consumed. Water becomes deficient in oxygen andfish are known to die in extreme cases.

Such pollutants affect the heart and the central nervous system once it enters the bloodstream of human beings.