The Chief Engineer (Operation & Maintenance), Dr. Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) at Ibrahimpatnam on Thursday asserted that the project does not compromise on pollution-related issues and effective measures were taken to ensure safe environment through regular monitoring.
Reacting to a report which appeared in these columns with a headline “ >Heavy metals in fly ash a cause for concern ”, he said that samples in the existing borewells of West Ibrahimpatnam and Jupudi villages in the proximity of the ash pond were collected recently and tested for presence of heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, cyanide, copper, manganese, zinc, aluminium, boron and iron by M/s EPTRI of the Andhra Pradesh Government.
EPTRI report
The EPTRI report revealed that some of the above heavy metals were found to be well within the standard limits of the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board while others below detectable limits.
He said that heavy metals like iron, zinc, copper, nickel, lead, cadmium, chromium etc in the effluents released from the ash pond were also tested by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board regularly.
The latest Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board reports said that some of the heavy metals found were well within the prescribed limits while others below detectable limits, he claimed.
Number of measures
To control pollution and safeguard the environment, he said, the NTTPS had taken a number of measures. Electro Static Precipitators (ESPs) were provided to all the units to control the dust emissions through chimneys, Effluent Treatment Plant and Sewage Treatment Plant were provided to treat effluents before discharging them and a green belt was developed around the project in about a stretch of 159 hectares.
Decantation well
Besides, a decantation well was provided in the ash pond for settling of the ash in the pond before discharging outside the pond and a full-fledged environmental cell was established to monitor environmental parameters regularly.
