Central Pollution Control Board raps Tamil Nadu firm for polluting water body

Industrial pollution in Karaikudi is fast ruining the water in the region. A fact- finding team of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has established that the contamination of the Periya Kanmai (literally big tank), in Koviloor was due to the discharge of effluents from the Tamil Nadu Chemical Products Limited (TCP), involved in manufacturing sodium hydrosulphite. 

The report comes down heavily on the chemical manufacturer for rendering the water in the tank unsuitable even for irrigation. The CPCB probe was occasioned by one Cee Tee Palanipaan’s plea to the National Green Tribunal, South Zone. He had submitted that the Sambai Ootru, (natural spring), a drinking water source in Karaikudi Municipality, was being ruined by industrial effluents, expelled by TCP. 

The firm, for its part, contended that after 2OO4 their units were not discharging water anymore and that the pollution was due to municipal and other wastes. However, the tribunal, led by its Judicial Member Justice Dr P Jyothimani and Judicial Member Prof Dr R Nagendran sought the probe team to verify what was causing the pollution, the measures to rectify it and the inadequate efforts by TCP to contain pollution. TCP is one of the leading manufacturers of sodium hydrosulphite, a highly hazardous substance that has applications in the manufacture of textile, jaggery, pharmaceuticals and ceramics. 

The probe report in possession with DT Next reveals the alarming extent of pollution caused by TCP. The concentration of pH (a measure of acidity and alkalinity in water) in Periya Kanmai is as high as 9.9 while Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) is a whopping 4444 mg/l. 

Even the other parameters ranging from Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand, both being ways to test the presence of waste matter in the water, sodium and sulphur remains high.