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Friday, Aug 26, 2005

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Fighting pollution on Siachen Glacier

Luv Puri

Army installs bio-digesters to burn human waste

A biodigester installed at a post on the Siachen Glacier.

LEH: In a move to address growing pollution on the Siachen Glacier — the world's highest battlefield — the Army has installed bio-digesters capable of burning human waste.

Estimates indicate that 1000 kg of human waste every day, besides other wastes,pollute the cold desert environment, which environmentalists say would have disastrous consequences.

Since the India-Pakistan conflict began in 1984 on the icy heights, concern over the pollution of the frozen water body due to massive troop deployment has been aired. Unlike the plains, bio-degradation does not take place at high altitudes due to the lack of oxygen and human waste keeps piling up.

At Siachen, where temperatures reach minus 50 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius, the lack of oxygen inhibits enzyme-related bio-degradation action. This is compounded by lack of soil surface exposure and the inability of bacteria to survive below five degrees. Earlier, the human waste was carted away by porters, aerial cableway and helicopter, which were all expensive.

Providing an innovative solution to the environmental degradation, bio-digesters have been installed at every post, which burn and destroy the human waste. The bio-digesters are carried to an altitude of 21,000 ft by air and surface transport. About Rs. 3 crores has been spent so far for the exercise. In addition, the old method of waste disposal would continue. Kerosene pipelines have been laid in the glacier to obviate the use of jerrycans, which help reduce material waste.

Colonel Tejinder Jaggi said the "bio-digesters would go to the last Indian post along the Siachen so that every inch of the glacier is environmentally safe. We are training our troops in operation and use of the machinery and equipment related to disposal of non-degradable waste." An in-house study by the Leh-based 14 Corps found that 75 per cent of the waste generated was bio-degradable and 1.3 per cent non-toxic, which could be destroyed. In effect the waste to be retrieved from the Glacier is no more than 24 per cent of the total generated. There are plans to produce biogas as well.

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