The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has warned the Kochi Corporation that the leachate from the old waste heaps at the civic body’s Brahmapuram yard would run into the nearby Kadambrayar river with the arrival of the monsoon.
A report filed by the board before the State Level Monitoring Committee on Solid Waste Management pointed out that the sheds provided for windrow composting were in a dilapidated stage. Waste was seen dumped in the open yard. There was every chance of heavy leachate flow during rainy season for which proper collection facility was not provided, it said.
The board, which held inspections at the yard in February and March, stated that the damaged windrow composting sheds were the root cause of the malfunctioning of the solid waste management facility. No effective facilities were seen there to process fresh biodegradable waste collected from the corporation area as well as from other local bodies.
Rainwater will definitely come in contact with the deposited legacy waste and will be directed to the Kadambrayar. There were visible discharge routes intentionally constructed for this untreated sewage discharges that find its way to the marshy area beyond the sheds before reaching the river. A branch of the Chitrapuzha located close to the site was also facing the threat of untreated waste water from the yard entering it, according to the report.
The board found that the septage treatment facility was not functioning properly. It is suspected that untreated or partially treated sewage/effluent was discharged into the nearby marshy area located approximately 50 metres away from the septage plant. Sewage in septic condition was seen spread over the entire area.
The report said that it was distressing to note that almost all components of the septage treatment plant were seen kept idle. There was clear evidence of untreated sewage discharge using flexible hose directly into the marshy area, which remains connected to the Chitrapuzha. It was noticed that fresh biodegradable waste received in the plant was not properly segregated and disposed as such even though separate records were kept as per the type of waste reaching the yard, according to the report.
