In spite of all the stress on development of basic facilities in the city, Kochi currently has no system to dispose off septic waste. Civic authorities have no plans about what to do with the tonnes of waste coming out of toilets in city residences and the problem of waste disposal looks to be spiralling out of control.
The District Collectorate had granted licences to 150 operators to remove waste from septic tanks using tanker lorries, said District Panchayat President Eldhose Kunnappillil. “The authority that grants the licence, however, does not mention what is to be done with the waste collected. There is no clarity regarding waste disposal,” he said. The district panchayat had earlier announced more than a month ago that it would conduct a study on the disposal of septic waste and suggest concrete measures to improve the system. With the hubbub over the elections, the study is nowhere near completion.
The corporation also had plans to construct a sewage treatment plant at Elamkulam to treat septic waste. The proposal was to construct a septic waste treatment plant beside the existing sewage plant of the Kerala Water Authority. “As per the proposal, waste from at least about five per cent of residences in the city could be treated at the plant. It would be a first step towards creating a larger waste management system for the city. But the work on the plant has reached nowhere and we have no idea when it will materialise,” said a corporation official.
The casualties of the lack of planning are the hundreds of residents in the city and the suburbs who wake up with septic waste dumped near their doors. Residents in Mulavukad recently slashed the tires of a lorry and set fire to the vehicle that was bringing septic waste to be dumped along the empty stretches of land near the Container Terminal Road. Similar instances have also been reported at Elamakkara, Karukutty, along the Aluva-Perumbavoor route, Koothattukulam, and several other regions in and around the city.
Septic tank cleaners can be hired for about Rs.3,500 per tanker of septic waste. The cleaners operate in the middle of the night and dump the waste through a hose into canals or abandoned land. Local residents wake up in the morning to unbearable stench and clogged drains. The police have registered cases against tanker lorry drivers on charge of dumping septic waste in various parts of the city. The arrests, however, do not address the basic issue of lack of a waste management system.
