Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to post weekly report of effluent treatment online
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MUMBAI: Come January, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will have to post on its website a weekly report on the performance of central effluent treatment plants (CETP) installed across the state-owned industrial estates.
The order was issued by a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Anoop Mohta last week in an intervention plea filed by the Tarapur Environment Protection Society (TEPS). The society which runs the CETP at the Tarapur Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had filed an intervention plea in a PIL filed by former corporator Nicholas Almeida on pollution of rivers by the discharge of untreated effluents and the setting up of hazardous industries close to the river.
The society in its petition pointed out that while the installed CETP had the capacity to treat 25 million lt of effluents daily, the actual daily discharge by industries in the area was 45 million lt.
"It is, therefore, apparent that an alarming situation is prevailing in MIDC, Tarapur, where 20 million lt of industrial effluents is being discharged without any treatment by CETP," observed the bench.
Tarapur is approximately 135km from Mumbai on the western railway. The treated effluent is discharged into the Navapur creek while the untreated effluents are clandestinely discharged into open drains which flow into the creek.
The division bench directed the MIDC to control the consumption of additional water by industries from unauthorized sources such as borewells and tankers. MIDC was also told to provide information to the society on the hazardous industries in the area. The MPCB would also need to provide similar information to other organizations that maintain CETPs in other industrial areas.
The order was issued by a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Anoop Mohta last week in an intervention plea filed by the Tarapur Environment Protection Society (TEPS). The society which runs the CETP at the Tarapur Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had filed an intervention plea in a PIL filed by former corporator Nicholas Almeida on pollution of rivers by the discharge of untreated effluents and the setting up of hazardous industries close to the river.
The society in its petition pointed out that while the installed CETP had the capacity to treat 25 million lt of effluents daily, the actual daily discharge by industries in the area was 45 million lt.
"It is, therefore, apparent that an alarming situation is prevailing in MIDC, Tarapur, where 20 million lt of industrial effluents is being discharged without any treatment by CETP," observed the bench.
Tarapur is approximately 135km from Mumbai on the western railway. The treated effluent is discharged into the Navapur creek while the untreated effluents are clandestinely discharged into open drains which flow into the creek.
The division bench directed the MIDC to control the consumption of additional water by industries from unauthorized sources such as borewells and tankers. MIDC was also told to provide information to the society on the hazardous industries in the area. The MPCB would also need to provide similar information to other organizations that maintain CETPs in other industrial areas.
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