- Arvind Venkat
3200 tonnes! - This is the amount of solid waste Chennai city produces in a day.
Ever wondered where it all goes?
Well,the majority of it is dumped in two places, Perungudi and Kodiyangur. About 50% is dumped in the Perungudi dumpyard and the rest at Kodiyangur. That means that about 1600 tonnes of solid waste is dumped at Perungudi daily. This is a huge amount, by any standards.
The whole area of Perungudi has been polluted because of the dump-yard, not just through one medium but through three, air, land and water. Some garbage at Perungudi including battery, plastics, paper and home waste is burnt. The resulting smoke has caused very bad air quality. The immediate air around Perungudi is highly loaded with toxic chemicals. Research has shown that there is a possibility of this leading to diseases like lung cancer. Indeed, the effects are being felt even as we speak. Residents are suffering from rashes and suffocation along with a general health deterioration.
The waste in the landfill which has been buried underground has resulted in pollution of ground water. Well water has been rendered unusable. It has become yellowish brown in colour. Residents are forced to spend money to buy water from outside, not just for drinking but for all purposes.
Analysis of water samples taken from 17 dug wells and 3 borewells shows that LEAD concentrations in all locations ranges from 0.121mg/l to 0.23mg/l when the MAXIMUM permissible limit is 0.05mg/l. Similarly Cu and NO3- concentrations are also above permissible levels of 0.05mg/l and 0.45mg/l .
The place where the Perungudi dumpyard is now was once upon a time, a fertile marshland. It goes without saying that not much of that fertility is still left. Hence the land is now useless, except for building purposes.
The most painful part of the entire situation is that Perungudi is by and large a RESIDENTIAL-CUM-INDUSTRIAL area. Nobody would be keen on
living in an obviously polluted area with a dumpyard under their noses. Complaints have been made by residents to the TamilNadu Pollution Control Board, but the situation isn't changing. However, it is most surprising thing to see a number of developers like TVH, ETL SEZ, Plaza Serene, Green Acres and Harmony Homes developing their land around the dumpyard. It can be seen that builders are not leaving any piece of land unexploited, whether or not it be near a dumpyard. It is an added bonus for them that they are getting the land cheaply as it is near the dumpyard.As the Corporation Commissioner has pointed out earlier, it is difficult to stop the dumping operation at Perungudi altogether due to space constraints. However more clean and efficient methods of waste disposal can be adopted.
Research has been done in this area by Ms.R.Gandhimathi, guided by Prof.Mohan between 2005-07 as a part of the environment technology group of iitm. Prof.Mohan had recommended simple methods such as a 2 cm lining if fly-ash and sand spread over can prevent as much as 20% of the contamination from reaching the ground water.
Only if we take some tangible action now,the Perungudi area will improve...else the coming generation will face problems much worse than ours.
