The Hindu : Coliform count high in rivers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 04, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Coliform count high in rivers

By Ignatius Pereira

KOLLAM Nov. 3. Even as the rivers and lakes in Kerala remain the prime source for the well-known personal cleanliness standards maintained by Malayalis, it is ironical that almost all such natural water bodies in the State record a high level of faecal pollution.

Regular quality monitoring of the 12 major rivers and a couple of lakes in the State by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) shows that they have a high level of faecal pollution as indicated by the high count of coliform bacteria.

The SPCB Environment Engineer, A.B. Pradeep Kumar, says lack of adequate sanitary facilities in urban centres for collection and treatment of sewage and the practice of open defecation in rural areas are seen as the cause for the abnormally high coliform counts in the natural water bodies.

The SPCB studies show that faecal pollution at the upper zone of the rivers far exceeds the levels specified for using the river as a drinking water source. The upper zone implies the upstream portion of a river including its tributaries and roughly about two-thirds of the length of the river from the point of origin and it is a fact that the river water from this zone is a direct source of drinking water for large sections people.

The rivers monitored by the SPCB authorities for the study are the Karamana, Kallada, Achenkovil, Pamba, Manimala, Meenachil, Muvattupuzha, Periyar, Chalakudy, Bharathapuzha, Chaliyar and Vallapattanam. Some of these rivers are the main source of drinking water for cities and a couple of other major rural drinking water supply schemes.

The studies show that faecal pollution is high in the middle and lower zones too. But at these stretches the river is not directly used as a drinking water source. While the high faecal count may not have any immediate or apparent consequence on the prevailing water use practices at all the three zones, remedial measures will have to be adopted for keeping the system under control as there could be a potential for contagious diseases to spread if continued to be neglected.

The studies also show as far as industrial pollution in concerned, the rivers at large in Kerala are pretty safe. Except for the lower zone of the Periyar River, no serious industrial pollution data has been recorded by the SPCB. This again could be attributed to the fact that Kerala, by and large, is not an industrialised State.

The faecal pollution problem plagues the major lakes in the State too. The Ashtamudi, Vembanad and Sasthamcotta lakes have alarmingly high coliform bacteria counts. Of these only the Sasthamcotta Lake has fresh water and the water from this lake, which is the major source of drinking water for Kollam city, is used for the purpose after proper disinfection and treatment, the water supply authorities claim.

Water quality monitoring of all the natural water bodies in the State is carried out by the SPCB primarily under the national and international schemes, Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources (MINAR) and the Global Environmental Monitoring Scheme (GEMS), respectively. Samples are taken regularly each month from marked water sampling stations along the rivers and lakes for studies.

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