The markers of chemical pollution are everywhere in and around Nanjangud, one of the State’s biggest industrial estates. Waterborne disease and “pollution-induced migration” are only some of the documented impacts among communities here.
But toxic effluents from the 532-acre estate — primarily lead from paper mills and also cadmium, chromium, copper and nickel, according recent studies — do not spare the Kapila, a Cauvery tributary on whose banks Nanjangud is situated.
If any further proof is needed, researchers at the University of Mysore have documented the accumulation of trace metals in freshwater fish in the Kapila in Nanjangud area, including zinc, iron, nickel, lead, cadmium and chromium, they report in the Journal of Pharmacy Research .
Not surprisingly, the water source has been classified in ‘C’ category (water needs treatment and disinfection for drinking) by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
KSPCB officers, however, refute the charges that industrial pollution is a major problem in this town.
KSPCB Chairman Vaman Acharya says that domestic sewage is a bigger source of pollution. “I don’t say there is zero discharge from industries but it has come down immensely. The power given to us to cut the electricity supply to polluting industries has worked in our favour to curb effluents being let into the river to a large extent.”
In December last, the KSPCB booked a criminal case against the chief officer of Nanjangud City Municipal Council under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 for failing to control sewage discharge. The criminal case, though, has not stopped sewage discharge.
