Smart City and Cochin Special Economic Zone. Used as a source for dumping waste
without proper cleaning drives, the river is fast getting polluted. The growth of water
hyacinths and other weeds is affecting water flow. Environment activist Purushan
Eloor worries that unless the river is taken care of, it will dry forcing the industries to
shut down and the residents to leave, turning Kakkanad into a ghost town.
The Brahmapuram waste treatment plant is also a threat to the water body as it is
not fully functional yet and waste is being dumped straight into the river. A massive
cleaning drive, under the instruction of then district collector K. Mohammed and Y.
Safirulla, was held from May to November 2017 using the CSR funds of the
companies working in the vicinity.
Increasing salinity due to increasing salinity ingress is another issue of the
Kadambrayar River. KINFRA had to stop pumping of this river’s water to the
InfoPark because of this. Following complaints, the Pollution Control Board plans
to conduct pollution tests on the river.
11
In Tirupur, people are paying the price of the cloth industry. The success story of
Tirupur as a successful textile town in Tamil Nadu began in the 1980s, when over
time, it became a successful cotton knitwear and hosiery export hub. While the city
contributed to global export earnings and generated jobs, the environmental
degradation costs have been high. The city’s dyeing and bleaching units have
turned the Noyyal River into a toxic sewer and destroyed vast areas of agricultural
land the river once sustained.
Residents and farmers claim that in utter violation of the Madras High Court
orders, the unit owners discharge toxic effluents directly into the river clandestinely.
Even though effluent treatment plants have been set up, the problems are far from
over. Farmers claim that fertile land located within 2 km along the river on either
side has been rendered useless, disrupting livelihoods and families. Groundwater is
affected too.
12
Industrial production is another significant cause of pollution. The discharge of
industrial effluents and hazardous waste has severely polluted freshwater sources. It
has led to severe degradation of the quality of surface water and groundwater
sources. The impacts of industrial pollution on human health and environment have
not been studied as extensively as domestic sewage-based irrigation practices. The
effluents discharged from the industrial units have percolated into the underground
aquifers. Large concentrations of heavy metals, biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), have been reported in groundwater in
places situated around the industrial estates. The discharge of effluents from the
industries has severely polluted rivers, lakes and surface water reservoirs. The
people living around the industrial estates are facing acute shortage of drinking
water due to degradation of quality of surface water and groundwater. Many people
11
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2020/feb/11/waste-dumping-salinity-leavekadambrayar-high-and-dry-2101688.html. Last accessed on April 13, 2020.
12
https://thewire.in/environment/australian-open-tiruppur-dyeing-bleaching-groundwater-contaminationagriculture-noyyal-river. Last accessed on February 12, 2020.
74
I. Khurana and R. Sen
without proper cleaning drives, the river is fast getting polluted. The growth of water
hyacinths and other weeds is affecting water flow. Environment activist Purushan
Eloor worries that unless the river is taken care of, it will dry forcing the industries to
shut down and the residents to leave, turning Kakkanad into a ghost town.
The Brahmapuram waste treatment plant is also a threat to the water body as it is
not fully functional yet and waste is being dumped straight into the river. A massive
cleaning drive, under the instruction of then district collector K. Mohammed and Y.
Safirulla, was held from May to November 2017 using the CSR funds of the
companies working in the vicinity.
Increasing salinity due to increasing salinity ingress is another issue of the
Kadambrayar River. KINFRA had to stop pumping of this river’s water to the
InfoPark because of this. Following complaints, the Pollution Control Board plans
to conduct pollution tests on the river.
11
In Tirupur, people are paying the price of the cloth industry. The success story of
Tirupur as a successful textile town in Tamil Nadu began in the 1980s, when over
time, it became a successful cotton knitwear and hosiery export hub. While the city
contributed to global export earnings and generated jobs, the environmental
degradation costs have been high. The city’s dyeing and bleaching units have
turned the Noyyal River into a toxic sewer and destroyed vast areas of agricultural
land the river once sustained.
Residents and farmers claim that in utter violation of the Madras High Court
orders, the unit owners discharge toxic effluents directly into the river clandestinely.
Even though effluent treatment plants have been set up, the problems are far from
over. Farmers claim that fertile land located within 2 km along the river on either
side has been rendered useless, disrupting livelihoods and families. Groundwater is
affected too.
12
Industrial production is another significant cause of pollution. The discharge of
industrial effluents and hazardous waste has severely polluted freshwater sources. It
has led to severe degradation of the quality of surface water and groundwater
sources. The impacts of industrial pollution on human health and environment have
not been studied as extensively as domestic sewage-based irrigation practices. The
effluents discharged from the industrial units have percolated into the underground
aquifers. Large concentrations of heavy metals, biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), have been reported in groundwater in
places situated around the industrial estates. The discharge of effluents from the
industries has severely polluted rivers, lakes and surface water reservoirs. The
people living around the industrial estates are facing acute shortage of drinking
water due to degradation of quality of surface water and groundwater. Many people
11
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2020/feb/11/waste-dumping-salinity-leavekadambrayar-high-and-dry-2101688.html. Last accessed on April 13, 2020.
12
https://thewire.in/environment/australian-open-tiruppur-dyeing-bleaching-groundwater-contaminationagriculture-noyyal-river. Last accessed on February 12, 2020.
74
I. Khurana and R. Sen