The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) will soon start work on a major research project on the deteriorating ecological condition of Vembanad lake in Ernakulam.
The board is expected to submit the proposal before the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It had earlier conducted a similar study on the Alappuzha stretch of the lake. Designated as a Ramsar site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the lake is also classified as an ‘Ecologically Sensitive Zone’.
The study assumes significance at a time when the waterbody is bearing the brunt of the increasing anthropogenic activities.
Senior board officials said the project would be presented before the Central and State Governments for formulating a conservation programme. The findings will be beneficial while drafting the action plan for protection of the lake, which has been under tremendous stress due to unchecked pollution and rapid urbanisation, they added.
The lake, which extends for a distance of 96 km from Azheekode in the north to Alappuzha in the south with a northwest-southeast orientation, is spread across the three central districts of the State including Ernakulam in the north, Kottayam in the east, and Alappuzha in the south.
A major focus of the proposed study will be the declining water quality levels in the lake following the spike in human activities. Studies conducted by the board in Alappuzha had revealed that waste water and untreated sewage were being dumped into the lake at several locations in Ernakulam. The high density of population along the banks of the lake had resulted in the growing level of water contamination, it had said.
The research will highlight the impact of the violation of coastal regulation zone norms on the lake. Board officials said untreated sewage from households and slaughter houses in Ernakulam were reaching the lake through various natural and artificial canals. Local bodies along the lake, which have a greater role to play in preventing pollution, have not been able to act against violators, they said.
Studies by the School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, had found that the ecological decay of the wetland was on the rise due to intense pollution and unauthorised construction from the southern to the northern regions of the backwaters.
