India: Pollution norms for deep sea discharge may be diluted

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India: Pollution norms for deep sea discharge may be diluted

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is actively considering `diluting' the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) norm that measures pollution of sea, from 250 mg litre to 500 mg litre for industrial effluents discharged in deep sea. It may be mentioned here that higher the COD in water, the greater the pollution.

In July 2015, draft rules had set norms for COD at 250 mgl not only for industrial effluent discharge in deep sea but also inland surface water and water on land for irrigation. This had given environmentalists something to cheer about but had attracted sharp protests from local industries opposed to stringent norms that they claimed would slow down industrial growth. Sources in Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said several industrial associations as well as state pollution control boards, including the GPCB, had made representations to relax norms for deep sea discharge.

"We had made a representation to the CPCB to relax the norms for deep sea discharge. The CPCB has, in principle, agreed to increase permissible limit for pollution and relax it upto a minimum of 500 mgl for deep sea discharge," said Yogesh Kapadia, chairman of the Vapi Industrial Association. Kapadia said that four studies -two carried out by the National Institute Of Oceanography (NIO) and one each by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) -have observed that there was no degradation of environment in deep sea. Increasing the permissible limit would mean that industries in Gujarat will be allowed to go in for expansion of their existing projects or even set up new industry, he said.

CPCB member secretary A B Akolkar said that the central pollution board is the nodal agency for hearing suggestions and recording objections from various states. "We have received several recommendations to increase the COD limit to 500 mglt for deep sea discharge. We have sent our recommendations to the ministry for final consideration," said Akolkar.

Environment activist Rohit Prajapati said they will oppose the dilution of COD norms from 250 mgl to 500 mgl by MoEF . "Raising premissible COD limit will artificially reduce the number of critically and severely polluted areas on paper, while more industrial clusters will join the list of critically and severely polluted areas in reality. This will only lead to further deterioration of the environment," said Prajapati. He said that the Union government considers environment only for investment and not protection. Mahesh Pandya, another environmentalist, said that the Centre is out to promote `Make in India' by ignoring pollution norms. "More discharge of toxic effluent will mean greater degradation of the environment and more damange to marine life," said Pandya.

K U Mistry, chairman, GPCB, has been pursuing the matter with the central government. "The 250 mgl norm was not rational as it is for water on land. Technically , deep sea discharge can be allowed a higher limit than land water. This has been proven in three different studies,'' said Mistry. He said that industry in the state was unable to follow the 250 mgl norms due to which they were losing in competition with industries of other states. What we proposed is based on scientific studies," Mistry said.