Date:23/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/23/stories/2004122304572000.htm

National

The pink pond of Hyderabad

By J.S. Ifthekhar

HYDERABAD, DEC. 22. It is Hyderabad's own pink sea. You cannot miss the colour or the pungent odour. Situated along National Highway 7, Noor Mohammed Kunta forces road-users to hold their breath. Passengers of trains rolling into the nearby Shivrampally railway station do a double take.

For years this waterbody has been the bane of the people living nearby. Thanks to the Kattedan industrial belt nearby, Noor Mohammed Kunta is totally polluted. Industrial effluents and waste constantly trickle in, giving it the pink colour. The groundwater pollution level is so high that downstream lakes, Shivrampally cheruvu and Oora cheruvu, are contaminated. These three lakes are a part of the historic Mir Alam lake basin.

The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board inspected the industrial units located at Kattedan and identified 255 of them. Forty of them were found to be generating liquid effluents in small and large quantities. The textile units were served closure orders for discharging untreated effluents into the Kunta, but the order was revoked when one of them acquired sufficient land to utilise treated effluents for land application.

Analytical results

The polluting units mostly deal in oil, plastic, chemical, rubber, battery cells and textiles. The Environment Protection Training and Research Institute did an analysis of grab samples of water at different locations. This showed a lead content varying from 2 mg a litre at the centre to 70 mg/l to the west. The inlet to the lake itself is contaminated, and its contents had a lead concentration level of 8 mg/l. Analysis of solid sediment showed lead levels of 38 mg/l to 78 mg/l. It is unclear if the lead concentration has reached groundwater streams. But the industries are in no mood to bear the cost.

The pollution is posing a threat to agricultural fields and people living in a radius of up to 3 km. Even borewells are affected. "The water is unsuitable even for washing," says Mallesh, a resident of Kattedan. The Rajendernagar Municipality is supplying drinking water through tankers to the area.

The long-suffering people now hope their ordeal will end. The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority has decided to set up an effluent treatment plant at a cost of Rs. 4 crores to save the pond. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy, is expected to lay foundation stone for the plant on January 2 when he launches his pet programme, Rajiv Nagar Bata, in Rajendernagar Municipality.