The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) will ask the Ernakulam District Industries Centre (DIC) to initiate steps to check discharge of untreated wastewater through stormwater drains in the Edayar industrial area.
The Environmental Surveillance Centre of the board at Eloor will issue a letter to the DIC seeking its support in preventing illegal discharge of effluents from the units. The board decided to write to the DIC after it ordered the closure of a waste oil recycling unit in the Edayar industrial estate as inspections on (June 26) Wednesday had revealed illegal discharge of a dark oily effluent through the stormwater drain linked to the Periyar.
The PCB will request the DIC to replace slabs over drains with iron grills for better surveillance against discharge of effluents. Though environmentalists had alerted the PCB about the discharge of effluents from the unit, the board officials had a tough time collecting samples and determining violations owing to delay in removing concrete slabs over drains.
The PCB had drawn flak from greens for not taking action despite repeated instances of effluents being discharged through stormwater drains into the river.
A report furnished by the PCB in June 2022 had confirmed that illegal discharge of untreated wastewater had taken place through nearly 15 stormwater drains in Edayar, which were meant for discharge of rainwater. Tests by the PCB had revealed exceeding levels of biological oxygen demand, a proxy for organic pollution, in samples collected from drains leading to the river.
