Latest news with #KeralaStatePollutionControlBoard
The Hindu
4 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Kerala shipwrecks: State to frame Oil Spill Contingency Plan
The Kerala government will frame an Oil Spill Contingency Plan (OSCP) after the recent two shipwrecks that raised a serious threat to the marine ecosystem and coastal environment. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board has awarded the work of preparing the plan to a Bangalore-based firm. It will include mapping of environmental sensitive index of oil spills along of the coast of Kerala and preparation of response-focussed contingency plans. The work, which included preparation of plans for crisis management and marine emergency response, is expected to be completed in eight months as per the work order issued by the board to the firm on June 27, 2025. The work is expected to be completed within eight months. The decision to prepare the OSCP, which was initially mooted in 2016, was finalised after Kerala witnessed two incidents off its coast involving two separate vessels – MSC Elsa 3 and MV Wan Hai 503 – on May 25, 2025 and June 9, 2025 respectively. It will include oil spill contingency planning guidelines, wildlife response plans, ship board pollution emergency plans and tactical oil spill booming/site response plans. Mitigation measures The OSCP will elaborate on the mitigation measures to be initiated in the wake of an emergency, policy and responsibility of various departments/agencies, oil spill risks and protection priorities, shoreline response operations, administrative action for shoreline clean-up, machines/equipment to be kept available in each department and database of authorities to be contacted in case of oil spills. It will identify the areas involving operation of fishing boats and ships and map all areas along the State's coast that are environmentally vulnerable. A detailed response plan with chain of command, duties and responsibilities, contact details, list of all available resources will be prepared. The plan will have the database of available machinery/ equipment for clean-up operations and details of the control equipment available in ports and harbours. The OSCP will be prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the National Oil Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) of 2015, 2018 and 2024.
New Indian Express
7 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
PCB's ‘power' move to hit old flats without sewage treatment plants
KOCHI: The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has initiated stringent measures, including notice to disconnect power supply, to 71 old residential flats in Kochi for failing to set up Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) on their premises. The move, especially, the issuance of power disconnection notice from KSEB, which acted on the direction of KSPCB, comes nearly a month after it issued closure notices to the flat owners, triggering panic among the residents. Earlier on June 23, the Kerala High Court issued detailed directions to the KSPCB and the Kochi Corporation to issue notices to entities responsible for polluting the Thevara-Perandoor Canal in the city. The directions were passed in a suo motu proceedings initiated by the High Court in 2022. 'With reference to the direction issued by the KSPCB under Section 33 A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, this is to inform you that KSEB Ltd has been instructed to disconnect the electricity supply ... to non-compliance with statutory requirements,' read the notice dated July 30 received by the secretary of an Edappally-based flat complex. 'The associations have been trying hard to comply with the legal requirements, ie, setting up of STPs. However, what we request is to allocate us more time, say five months. Also, most of them do not have any free land available. They have to demolish other existing structures to make space available for the construction of STP. The closure notices were sent to the flats constructed before 2010, when the mandatory norms regarding STPs were not in force,' Abraham Joseph, chairman, Consortium of Flat & Villa Owners Association (Kerala), told TNIE.
The Hindu
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
NGT seeks new systems for debris removal along Kochi backwaters, coastline
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Department of Local Self-Government, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, and the Ernakulam District Collector to file a report on the possibility of deploying modern equipment, including sea bins and amphibious waste removal systems, for the effective removal of floating debris from the backwaters and coastal waters. The Southern Bench of the tribunal made the recommendation while considering the case pertaining to the impact of garbage pile-ups on the tourism potential of the Fort Kochi coastline. An order dated June 20,2025 issued by Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member, and Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati, Expert Member, stated that the Ernakulam District Collector and the Kochi Corporation had not yet filed their reports on garbage deposits along the Fort Kochi beach and its premises. The Bench has posted the matter for the next hearing on August 14, 2025. Besides the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the Kochi Corporation and the District Collector, the tribunal had included the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) as respondent in the case. In a report dated March 17, 2025, the CPCB had informed the Bench that it was the responsibility of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the Kochi Corporation and the Ernakulam district administration to initiate necessary action against the garbage pile-up along the Fort Kochi beach in Ernakulam. As per the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, it is the duty of the local authorities to facilitate the construction, maintenance, and operation of solid waste processing facilities and associated infrastructure. Local bodies and panchayats were entrusted with the primary responsibility of collection and management of municipal solid waste, maintenance and operation of the solid waste processing sites and dumping yards, it said. It is the duty of the State Urban Affairs department to ensure the implementation of provisions of the SWM rules by all the local authorities. The State pollution control boards are also entrusted with the responsibility of issuing authorisation to the local bodies after examining the proposals related to waste management, according to the report. The Kochi Corporation had submitted a report before the State Pollution Control Board on March 14, 2025 stating that the waste pile-up along the beach had been removed.
The Hindu
27-06-2025
- The Hindu
Over ₹6 lakh collected as penalty for discharge of pollutants into Edappally canal
The Kochi Corporation has imposed a total penalty of ₹6.25 lakh on those responsible for illegal discharge of untreated wastewater and septage into the Edappally canal in March 2025. The penalty was collected between March 1 and March 31. It was imposed as part of the short-term action plan for the rejuvenation of the canal and to identify the sources of pollution through a study, according to the report on polluted rivers and other waterbodies submitted by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to the Ministry of Jal Shakthi for May 2025. The civic body had collected a total of ₹5.54 lakh as penalty from polluters in a three-month-long inspection held from November 30, 2024, to January 15, 2025, it said. The report said four squads had been formed to conduct regular inspections to identify the sources of sewage discharge. It included a night squad to check such violations. The squad included officials of the Corporation's engineering and health wings. The board informed that it had issued notices to over 160 apartments/hotels located close to the Vembanad lake in Ernakulam as on May 31, 2025, for violation of norms under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution), Act. Besides apartments and eateries, notices were also issued to industrial units and houseboats for violation of norms. The action, which was initiated from the 2023-24 fiscal, included penalty for not setting up proper sewage treatment plants and required authorisation from the PCB to set up and operate such facilities, according to official sources. The inspections had revealed that the violators either did not have valid consent issued by the PCB to operate a treatment facility or lacked a sewage treatment plant. Inspections had also found out that sewage treatment plants were not functioning properly in some units. The Principal Bench of the tribunal in New Delhi had asked the government to initiate action against the pollution of Vembanad and Ashtamudi lakes, listed as Ramsar sites for their ecological importance.
The Hindu
23-06-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Faecal contamination exceeds permissible limits in Periyar, Chitrapuzha
Faecal contamination exceeded the maximum permissible limits along the Kalamassery stretch of the Periyar and Irumpanam stretch of the Chitrapuzha in Ernakulam in March 2025. The total coliform count, indicating faecal contamination, recorded on the Irumpanam stretch of Chitrapuzha was 7,900 MPN (most probable number) per 100 ml while the corresponding MPN in Kalamassery was 3,900/100 ml, according to an analysis by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) carried out in March 2025. The maximum permissible limit of total coliform in bathing water, as prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), is less than 2,500 MPN per 100 ml. The analysis of water samples was done as part of the Central Pollution Control Board's National Water Quality Monitoring Programme. Samples are collected from fixed locations on the Kalamassery stretch of the Periyar and the Irumpanam section along the Chitrapuzha every month as part of the monitoring programme. The faecal coliform count along the Kalamassery stretch of the Periyar in March 2025 was 2,100 MPN per 100 ml. The faecal streptococci level had also exceeded the permissible limit on multiple occasions on the same stretch. It was recorded at 1,400 MPN per 100 ml against the maximum of 500 MPN per 100 ml prescribed by the CPCB. The situation along the Irumpanam stretch of the Chitrapuzha was no different. The faecal coliform count in March was 4,300 MPN/100 ml. The water quality parameters at 13 monitoring stations along the Periyar in Idukki, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts had failed to comply with the norms of the CPCB's National Water Quality Monitoring Programme in the period between January and December 2024. The analysis had revealed that all 13 locations failed to meet the Primary Water Quality Criteria for Outdoor Bathing, as notified under the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986. The parameters of non-compliance included Dissolved Oxygen (DO), pH, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Faecal Coliform, and Faecal Streptococci, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The range of faecal coliform values at Eloor and the sewage discharge point in Aluva had exceeded the primary water quality standards for outdoor bathing, surpassing the maximum permissible limit of 2,500 MPN (most probable number)/100 ml in the study period between January and December 2024.
