To make monitoring of effluent discharge by dyeing units
in Tirupur and Erode districts more effective, the Tamil Nadu Pollution
Control Board (TNPCB) will have an online water quality monitoring
system this year in the Noyyal river and Kalingarayan canal.
In
the policy note tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, Environment Minister
B.V. Ramanaa said the process of procurement of instruments for
continuous online monitoring of water quality in Noyyal river and
Kalingarayan canal will be completed by May 31. TNPCB officials say
there will be three online TDS (Totally Dissolved Solids) meters to
measure the TDS levels. There will be a meter upstream, well before the
effluent discharges begin, one right in the middle of the polluted river
and canal and one downstream.
At present, the TNPCB
officials are using hand-held devices to measure the TDS levels and the
samples are tested in laboratories and only one test sample is taken
every month, say sources. The online monitoring system that will be
connected to the TNPCB website to make the readings public will give a
real-time reading revealing patterns of discharge, sources add.
The
instrument is expected to cost Rs 3 to 4 lakh a piece. Initially, the
plan was to have 10 TDS meters in both but as it has not been tried
before anywhere in the country, the government has decided to start with
three. The data available will be for every minute
and it could be made into a compilation of an hour's readings or as per
required specifications. However, there is still the safety of the
instruments that has to be addressed, officials say. The
use of technology has been arrived at after farmers started complaining
that there were indiscriminate discharges of effluents despite the
court mandate of zero liquid discharge from dyeing units. “Once
the online system is in place, we will be able to ascertain and zero in
whenever there is any deviation from the normal pattern,” said a TNPCB
official.
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