Stop Dumping into Musi before Start Cleaning!

About Musi River

The Musi River is a Land mark, passing through Hyderabad Metropolitan Area for a stretch of about 20 Kms from Tippu Sultan Bridge -Purana Pool – Chaderghat- Nagoal and dividing the City into North and South Parts. The storm waters from both the parts drain into Musi River as it provides a natural depression. 

Naturally, the phenomenal growth of Hyderabad urban area during the last half a century, with its overall environmental impact/degradation, contributed to the present sad state of pollution/degradation of the Musi River.

As there are no inflows into Musi River, down stream of Osman and Himayat Sagars,  the inflows are mainly confined to the discharges from both sides of the urban area. The storm waters that drain during monsoon period and the untreated or undertreated domestic sewage and industrial effluents during the rest of the year,. As a result for most part of the year Musi looks like a Drain than a River. 

 CAG & EPTRI Reports

The CAG Report, which reviewed the activities relating to the control of water pollution during 1994-2000, was placed before the State Assembly on 31-3-2001. The report stated that ground water in areas along Musi River contained high levels of pollution and endangered public health. The water samples collected from down Stream of Musi River, are reported to have shown high levels of toxic heavy metals like, Lead, Chromium, Mercury and Arsenic in ground as well as surface waters.

The State of Environment Report for Hyderabad published by EPTRI in 1996,  estimated that about 350 MT of Total Dissolved Solids(TDS) load is being pumped into Musi River every day, along with untreated & under treated industrial effluents being let out into Musi River. The other point is the residues of toxic Heavy Metals and POPs, which are not being tracked, are finding their way along with the effluents/sewage. 

 

Nature & Sources of Pollution

The most threatening problem of Musi River pollution is from water soluble, non-volatile, fairly reactive and environmentally persistent Organic Halogen Compounds (POPs). Some of these exhibit properties of high toxicity, bioaccumulation or carcinogenicity. These have applications as chemical intermediates in manufacture of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals etc.

 

As there does not seem to be an effective treatment to remove these toxic pollutants, the Supreme Court directed Bulk Drug Industries for segregation of waste stream containing these non-degradable pollutants at the very source of their generation, instead of sending it to Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) or discharging into drains or sewers. But unfortunately this very aspect is being ignored both by the Bulk Drug Industry and APPCB and trying to dilute & shift the pollution & accountability.

 

 The unorganized industrial units engaged in Galvanizing, Electroplating, Leather Tanning etc are the main sources of toxic heavy metals such as Cadmium, Chrome etc found in large quantities in the sludge of Husain Sagar & Amberpet STP and in Musi River. This is mainly because of unchecked discharge of untreated effluents into drains & sewers.

 

The other sources of chemical contaminants are the Hospitals, Clinical Laboratories, Chemical/Diagnostic Laboratories, Photo Studios etc spread over the city. They invariably discharge/drain their untreated and undertreated chemical residues into Municipal Sewers and the drains finding their way to STPs and the Musi River 

 

CETP Pattancheru (PETL) & CETP Jeedimetla (JETL)  

 

The seriousness of the pollution problem from the bulk drug industries at Pattancheru was highlighted in 2007, by an environmental scientist of Sweden, when he found at CETP, Pattancheru (PETL) the discharge load of Ciprofloxacin, corresponding to approx 45 kg of active ingredient per day. It is likely to raise antibiotic bacterial resistance in the world, making it a Global Concern.   

 

 In addition to Ciprofloxacin, the supposedly treated effluents of PETL had 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. It was reported that 11 of the drugs detected were at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment.

 

The so called treated effluents of PETL and JETL,  are being discharged into Municipal Sewers through 18 Km Pipeline and Duplicate K-S Main respectively, finding their way to Amberpet STP and Musi River. If the outlet standards, applicable for discharge into inland surface waters, are being met by PETL & JETL, why not they be utilized by the member industrial units, instead of sending, all the way, to Amberpet STP ?.

 

Cleaning of Musi River

 

The first isolated effort for cleaning Musi River was made in 1990s, by launching ill-conceived "Nandanavanam" project covering about 4 Km stretch of the River,  reducing the  width as a water way.  In August 2000, the flash floods of Musi River washed away the works undertaken at considerable cost, under Nandanavanam project.

 

The, ""Save Musi River" Project was undertaken in 2005-06, covering the stretch of around 20 Kms of the River in HUDA limits at an estimated cost of Rs 355 Crores as National River Conservation Project Phase I , under National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD)  . This project envisaged setting up of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Nagol, Nallacheruvu, Attapur apart from expanding and augmenting the capacity of STP at Amberpet. It is reported that under Phase II of the project, NRCD has cleared setting up of 10 more STPs with a capacity of 600 MLD at an estimated cost of Rs 750 Crores.

Limitations of STPs

As STPs can not remove TDS Load, except diluting the concentration levels.  the fact of letting out about 350 tons of TDS containing toxic and non-degradable substances into Musi every day, is going to be continued. How do the STPs help to prevent the load of 11 most abundant active pharmaceutical substances & Ciprofloxacin discharged from PETL and accumulating down stream of Musi, river?  As the waterborne drugs promote antibiotic-resistant germs, especially when they are mixed with bacteria in human sewage, how do the STPs get over the problem?

Abatement of Total Pollution of Musi River?

The bulk of pollution of Musi is attributable to non-degradable and non-treatable inorganic salts in the farm of TDS, heavy metals, traces of pesticides and persistent organic pollutants. These are being discharged into Musi either directly or by letting them into domestic sewers. As the STPs can neither degrade nor remove the above toxic pollutants and substances, the well intentioned purpose of cleaning up of Musi River may not be served by setting up of STPs, if the pollutants are continued to be discharged into municipal sewers.

 

 It is to be seen, how abatement of total pollution of Musi River is going to be achieved under NRCD Phase-II (Musi Revitalization Project), by just building additional STPs, laying new Sewer Lines etc at considerable expenditure, while continuing to permit untreated \ under treated toxic  and non-degradable  effluents into the Sewer Lines ?

 

Conclusion

 

    If Musi River and the water bodies around Hyderabad are to be protected, the industries, mainly the bulk drug industries, are to be disciplined to segregate and treat the effluents at the very source of their generation, The other sources of pollutants should not be permitted to drain their untreated effluents into municipal sewers by regular monitoring and levying heavy penalties. The decentralized, STPs of 5 to 10 MLD capacity be set up to treat domestic sewage free from industrial effluents and other toxic metals/chemicals, so that the treated sewage can be reused by the local communities for non – domestic use.