The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Environment around Mettupalayam highly corrosive: study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 19, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Environment around Mettupalayam highly corrosive: study

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI, JUNE 18. Mettupalayam in western Tamil Nadu, known for being the entry point for Udhagamandalam, has a dark side also to it.

A study by the CSIR's Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI) found that its environment was highly corrosive because of very high levels of sulphur dioxide gas generated by industrial units in the town.

In a telephonic interview to The Hindu , N. Palaniswamy, Head, Corrosion Science Engineering Group at the Karaikudi-based institute, said the study was conducted at 33 locations across the country and of them five fell in the highest range. Mettupalayam was one among them. The other four were Sriharikota, the Chennai Naval base, the Mormugao Port in Goa and Port Blair.

The problem, he said, was found the worst in Sriharikota, with a corrosion rate of 1.6 mm a year, followed by the Chennai Naval Base (0.5 mm), the Goa port (0.45 mm), Port Blair (0.38 mm) and Mettupalayam (0.3 mm). A corrosion rate of more than 0.2 mm a year is categorised as `extremely severe.'

At Sriharikota and Port Blair, the problem occurred because of high salt content in the air as they were very close to the sea. At the Chennai Naval base and the Goa port, on the other hand, there was a combination of factors — marine environment and the flow of effluents from industrial units surrounding them. At the Chennai Naval base, the problem was because of the Manali industrial area and at the Goa port, because of the large number of iron ore units in its neighbourhood. Mettupalayam was the only place, where the problem occurred because of industrial pollution.

Among other locations, seven centres Mumbai, Manali, Mangalore, Kakinada, Mandapam, Tuticorin and Kochi, have `severe' corrosive conditions. The study was conducted from 1993 to 2003. The last such study was conducted three decades ago — between 1963 and 1968.

In a report on the study, scientists called for a more detailed assessment of the corrosion problem. The present study mainly covered the southern States, as the CECRI's field stations were concentrated in this region. The institute, for some years now, had been pressing for a countrywide study involving 150 locations, particularly considering that the problem was highly spot-specific and consequently there was limitation to the extent to which one could not extrapolate the data. Such a study is estimated to cost Rs. 2 crores.

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