Bengaluru: Treating industrial effluents requires huge capital investment and hence most of the industrial unit owners opt to release the industrial waste out without treating it. This method of disposing of waste could be easily tracked down by the authorities.
However, in Peenya industrial area of the city, few industry owners adopted another method to discharge the effluents by releasing the same into underground units.
While this cannot be easily tracked, an investigation by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) unearthed the ugly truth.
All started with a board report indicating heavy metal traces in the underground water samples collected from the Peenya industrial area. When the board officials carried out an inspection, they found that it is because of discharge of effluents directly to the underground drainage. In 2017 October all the industries in the area were asked to stop the release of effluents to the drainage.
But, when the board carried out another round of study in the same region, there was no improvement in the water quality. Surprised by this, when the board carried out the second survey it found that after the board banned the release of effluent into the drainage, few industry owners started to release the effluents directly underground through borewells.
Now the KSPCB has decided to shut down all the borewells in the area to ensure that industries will set up the effluent treatment units. According to Lakshman, Chairman of the KSPCB, around 76 borewells were used to discharge effluents in the area. Among them, 30 will be closed immediately.
