The Hindu : Kerala News : German experts moot steps to tackle Pampa's woes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 30, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

German experts moot steps to tackle Pampa's woes

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 29 . The German expert team, which has offered technical assistance for mitigation of the pollution of Pamba river, today highlighted the need for a participatory approach to clean up the river and bring it under a monitoring system.

The team comprising Martin Foth from Capacity Building International, Germany, and Hans-Peter Weigel and Benrd Schneider from the Bremen State Department for Construction, Environment and Traffic, called for urgent steps to control the discharge of sewage into the river from the Sabarimala pilgrim centre in the Upper Pamba region.

It has proposed a Technical Experts' Group and a Round Table Advisory Board to accelerate the construction of a new sewage collection and treatment system. The expert group will conduct feasibility studies and work out a monitoring mechanism for the river. It will report to the advisory board comprising representatives of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the Water Resources Department, Pollution Control Board and the Departments of Forest, Public Works and Science and Technology.

The advisory board has been proposed as an agency facilitating early information and coordination between decision-making bodies and keeping the expert group informed of the viability of various options for pollution control. The constitution of the board was finalised at a stakeholders' workshop organised by the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), which concluded here today. The German team observed that pollution control in the Upper Pamba would also motivate other polluters downstream to check their contribution to the problem. Any technical solution mu st conform to the standards for river discharge laid down by the Pollution Control Board, it said.

The project presented by the German experts is based on recycling the wastes generated by the huge number of pilgrims visiting the Sabarimala hill shrine. The proposal focuses on treating the waste and converting it into fertilizer for use in the rubber and teak plantations in the region.

The core of the proposal is a pressure sewer system, which comprises a pumping station for each public toilet complex. The network of pumps will be equipped to handle both solid and liquid wastes. The wastes will be pumped to a central treatment plant where it is converted into organic compost by anaerobic digestion. The biogas generated during the composting process can be used for sterilising and drying the sludge.

The German team was sounded on the Pamba issue last year at Bremen during a workshop on coastal zone management conducted jointly by the Centre for Marine Tropical Ecology, Germany, and the Thiruvananthapuram-based CESS.

The team relied on their 25-year experience in managing the Weser River in Bremen.

"The management of the Pamba requires a different kind of approach because of the seasonal pollution during the Sabarimala pilgrimage which lasts for about 60 days a year. Conventional treatment will not work because a treatment plant requires four weeks of operation to build up optimal efficiency," says Dr. Weigel.

"Public acceptability is crucial for a project of this nature. Success depends on the involvement of stakeholders who include users of river water and the people affected by pollution. Ideally, the project has to be operated by the stakeholders themselves," Mr. Foth said. He feels that local bodies could play a key role in the effort.

As many as 18 stakeholder institutions and agencies participated in the workshop. At the valedictory session, the CESS director, M. Baba, said the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment could work out a monitoring system for the river. The Secretary, Health and Devaswom, Bharath Bhushan, said the Government was committed to finding a permanent solution to the pollution of the Pamba.

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