Final report soon on developing process package to check pollution of Edappally, Perandoor canals

A stretch of the Edapplly canal.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO

The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) will soon submit data on various sources of domestic sewage being discharged into the Edappally and Perandoor canals, as part of a feasibility study conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) to develop a solution for the issue.

The secondary data on the pollution loads from sewage discharge along the canals will be compiled by the board and submitted to the research team for the final report. The study was initiated as per the directives issued by the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which took suo motu cognisance of the report ‘Faecal contamination high in Perandoor, Edappally Canals,’ published in The Hindu online on January 28, 2021.

An order issued on August 20, 2024, by the Bench comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member, and Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati, Expert Member, directed the board and CSIR-NEERI to submit the final report immediately, as the “case has been pending since 2021 without any remedy.”

Researchers from NEERI conducted site visits along the banks of the canals from October 15 to 18. They requested the board to submit secondary data on pollution sources, catchment areas, and drain mapping. The board, in turn, asked the Department of Irrigation and the Kochi Corporation to provide the data. The research team also suggested identifying suitable government land for setting up a modular process package system.