Tamil Nadu's Bhopal - or how Unilever dumped Mercury waste

I wandered into reading on Tamil Nadu's Bhopal - or how Unilever dumped Mercury waste on Kodaikanal's pristine environment for 18 years..  and refuses to clean up even after it was forced to shut down its factory in the wake of the public uncovering of its dumped waste.

Kodaikanal is a hill station at 7000 feet on the Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu. It is part of the Shola eco system across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which itself is a part of the Western Ghats.

Its hills are always kissing the clouds resulting in a high amount of precipitation.. the trees are short due to high winds, and there are extensive grasslands.. which make this ecosystem unique.

Mercury is one of the most toxic elements known. Ponds moved its factory  (later acquired by Unilever)  to make mercury thermometers from New York to its present site in 1983 as the temperature was low year round.

Legislation on mercury handling in the U.S. had begun to change after toxic side effects began to be publicised. The Ponds India management got special permission from the Central government in India to set up at Kodaikanal on the grounds that it was a non-polluting glass manufacturing unit (!). No formal site selection or screening process was undertaken to assess and minimise the impact of a mercury thermometer plant in an eco-sensitive area.

The Tamil Nadu Factories Inspectorate and the Pollution Control Board found nothing amiss in their periodic inspections of the factory including on workers' health. In 2001, it was citizens - the Palani Hills Conservation Council and Greenpeace, which caught the management selling mercury-contaminated glass to a local scrap dealer. Faced with the evidence, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board asked the factory to close.

Water Conservation in Urban Areas

Meeting on recharge from rainwater
at Munirka DDA Flats, Delhi

Catch Rain where it Falls : Water conservation in urban centers starts with retaining rain water in the city by directing it underground. Every building in every block - house, school, hospital, should be channeling the rainwater from their roofs and yards that they cannot store, via cleaned stormwater drains and into covered wells in their public parks. Vandana Menon, Architect, Nizammuddin, Delhi can provide consultancy services on this. 

All car parkings, pavements, hospital and bus yards etc. can be of paver blocks with holes in them so soil and grass can be on the surface to soak in rainwater.

Protect Water Bodies and their Water Channels : All water bodies in the city (including rivers such as the Yamuna ofcourse) should be deified - given names and identities that people revere and protect. It should be the top priority of the government to protect them and to ensure the natural rainwater channels that kept them fed, function. Fishing rights, walks around the water body, water birds, etc. can be facilitated so people use and cherish the water body. 

Make Constructed Spaces Green : The Governemnt should convert public building roofs into green roofs and also vertical greens - can be seen in several buildings, flyovers etc. in Singapore. It should disseminate these ideas to encourage people to grow vegetables, flowers, trees and vines on rooftops and sides of their private buildings to soak in more rain, cool the city, provide transpiration, and absorb more CO2 which helps with climate change. 

Minimize Water Leakages from Pipes : Data on all complaints regarding water leakages should be available online - for example, when complaint was lodged, when addressed, by which water sub-office, with pictures before and after. At present it is common to see water leakages unattended, despite complaints, for days, weeks, months, and even years. 

Government must also begin a web page called 'This is a National Shame' - where pictures showing  premises where water is being wasted are uploaded by the public including the address (not names or pictures of individuals though). 

Less Delivery by Design : Government must call a meeting of all manufacturers of water faucets, both taps and showers, and builders / big contractors to ask for faucets and showers which deliver much smaller volume of water per minute but mist it more, so it feels like as much or more water. Govt. must promulgate standards where certain 'luxury' fittings which deliver water above a certain volume per minute are made illegal for use in India.

Continuous Public Education Campaign : The government must run a continuous public education campaign on TV and radio and on the net (it can ask corporates to fund it too) which shares ideas on water conservation continually. Some ideas to save water in domestic use are : 

• Open tap or shower as little as possible, as briefly as possible.
• Wipe utensils and dirty areas with napkin sized newspaper pieces before washing.
• Store waste RO water for use in washing utensils or swabbing floors
• Do not use plastic pipes to wash cars or floors; swabbing a floor should suffice to clean including in hotels and hospitals - pressure hosing to be completely disallowed for this purpose; 
• Wash utensils from water stored in a utensil to minimize wastage from running water from taps, etc.

Minimizing Pollution of Soils and Water Bodies : All households to store wet wastes (kitchen peels and wastes) separately from dry wastes (plastic, paper, carton, glass, metal, etc.). Dry wastes to be given to waste collector or deposited in public trash bin only when the bag containing them is full and tied in a knot on top. This minimizes plastic pollution of soils and water bodies. It also saves many animals, birds and acquatic life from choking on them. 

All wet waste to be composted at landfill sites as recommended by Almitra Patel, national expert for Swachch Bharat Abhiyan. Farmers to be encouraged to take composted wastes free from landfills. This will minimize the leachate from wet wastes now poisoning groundwater and help build up the quality of the mostly degraded soils of India. 

Recycle Construction Wastes : Both paucity of water and climate change demand a slowdown in manufacturing which involves use of fossil fuels and water - atleast to make it more efficient and cut out that which is unnecessary - so it is essential for example, to recycle construction wastes. Films available on almitra patel's youtube channel advise how to do this.

Use treated STP water for for flushing, and cleaning of floors and cars : The government should require all complexes with own sewage treatment plants to use the treated water not only in green areas as is presently done, but also for flushing, and cleaning of floors and cars. So their must be infrastructure in place to carry the treated water back to each household and commercial enterprise in that particular complex. 

Coastal cities must use sea water for flushing, and cleaning of floors and cars, and not freshwater as has been done in Hongkong for long.

Involve Responsible Public Members : Many groups in several cities have worked on water conservation. The government should seek their advice and ask them to comment on its water conservation efforts. All RWAs should be charged with water conservation of piped water in their area and also water bodies that lie partly or wholly in their area.