The New Indian Express 18.10.2010
CM urged to scrap controversial compost yard
CHENNAI: A member of a SC Committee on Solid Waste, Almitra Patel, has written to CM M Karunanidhi and Deputy CM M K Stalin asking them to intervene and protect the Chembarambakkam Lake from landfill pollution. According to Patel and a whole host of environmental experts, the lake would be under threat of severe pollution if the proposal to set up a compost yard in its catchment area was approved. In a copy of the letter made available to Express, Almitra Patel stated that the “proposed allotment of the site in Kuthambakkam for compost yard is against the guidelines for landfill siting given in the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000.”“My visit to the spot showed that for 3-4 monsoon months in the year the groundwater level is so high in the area that nearby open wells are full till ground level and sometimes even overflow. The gravel-covered sheet erosion patches in the grazing ground indicate regular, extensive and forceful surface water flows over the entire site. These flow via a wetland below a bridge on NH 4 straight into nearby Chembarambakkam Lake which is a major water supply (source) for metropolitan Chennai,” she stated in her letter. “EU has banned below-ground landfills because of inevitable failure over time of their waterproof bottom liners. So any proposed landfill on such a high water table endangers groundwater and surrounding irrigation wells and is a certain recipe for a public-health disaster,” she added.
Patel also stated that the quantity of waste was grossly exaggerated perhaps to justify the need for more land. “27 tons a day from a 30,000 population of Valsaravakkam is 350 per cent more than the national average for small towns,” she said.
Citing the example of zero waste management at Suryapet in AP, Patel stated in the letter that she could volunteer to help municipalities manage their waste properly if the authorities were interested.
