The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has asked Hindustan Insecticides Ltd. (HIL) at Eloor to speed up the process of handing over nearly 75 cents for the installation of an effluent treatment plant (ETP) as part of restoring the heavily-polluted Eloor-Kuzhikandam canal.
The board has filed a report before the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), saying that directions had been issued to the public sector company at Udyogamandal to hand over the land on lease basis for 99 years at a nominal rate or free of cost. Remediation work will be done in three stages that include A1 area (inside HIL); A2 area (inside Merchem), and A3 area (residential area). A2 and A3 sites are near the company.
The major activities under remediation include excavation, storage of excavated soil and sediments, analysis of soil, and pumping of surface and ground water.
The work proposed include treatment of surface and groundwater, analysis of treated water, discharge of treated water and disposal of hazardous soil / sediments to the treatment storage disposal facility. The land will be used to set up the plant and allied infrastructure. The PCB had pointed out that the land should be easily accessible with provision for vehicular movement, power requirement, and proper transportation and loading / unloading activities.
The board found that the site at HIL was ideal, as it met all project requirements. Being a public limited company, all necessary safety measures can be assured for the facilities on its premises. The next phases of remediation that include A2 and A3 remain close to the company. Water and sediments / soil excavated at the two sites can be easily pumped to the effluent treatment plant, if it is installed on the land, according to the board.
A supervisory committee appointed by the NGT had also approved the identified site.
The detailed project report (DPR) said five monitoring wells needed to be set up in the three areas, and groundwater from the wells will be pumped and treated till it achieved the standards prescribed by the board.
The plant installed for groundwater remediation will be operated till it meets the standards.
