Kerala - Kochi   

Design of Brahmapuram plant faulty, say experts

KOCHI: The Assembly Committee on Environment has received expert opinion that the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram cannot be commissioned in its present form owing to faulty design and violation of guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

A meeting of the committee in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday will discuss the issue in detail.

It will also come up with recommendations based on the preliminary inference that design fault had caused damage to the plant, sources in the committee said.

The Pollution Control Board officials will explain the shortcomings in the construction of the plant. The board had already informed the committee that the leakage of leachate (black-coloured liquid) from waste would contaminate the ground and the nearby Kadambrayar.

Pointing out that the slab was cast on the newly-reclaimed land that required some years to settle, committee sources said the ground had given in due to consolidation of construction on the unsettled land.

The RCC slab yielded under its weight and cracked. Board sources said the designer should have realised that a 10-cm thick RCC slab without support would yield under its own weight. This floor slab was meant for the traffic of loaded trucks and turning machines/tractors. It should have been something similar to a bridge slab, they said.

The Assembly committee has received reports that municipal solid waste gives out leachate up to 0.4/kg. of biodegradable waste during the first few days of degradation. The quantity of this leachate will be more during the monsoon when humidity is high. This is very toxic and extremely difficult to treat. No provision is made for treating the leachate at the site.

If leachate contaminates the water body, it would extend to the whole backwaters area and fish catch would be affected, sources said.

The Board officials said the site had been selected without the mandatory assessment of the CPCB guidelines. A good portion of the municipal solid waste would be non-biodegradable and toxic non-recyclable materials. These have to be put in a secure landfill.

Committee sources said the Kadambrayar would be polluted if the garbage plant was operated in the present condition.

Suggesting that the waste treatment system should comprise a leachate collection system in the plant and storm water collection drains, board officials said treatment of leachate was a tricky issue, as far as technology was concerned.

It is more complex than sewage. Additional anaerobic and aerobic lagoons and phytoremediation (treatment of environmental problems through the use of plants) have to be implemented.

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