With densely-populated areas in the city, especially Punjabi Bagh and R.K. Puram, showing high levels of ozone, environmentalists and doctors have expressed their concern over their adverse effect on children, dengue patients, and those with compromised respiratory function.
“In the dengue season, stressed respiratory function with high levels of ozone can work as a fatal combination. This season has seen a large number of deaths in children. Also those with underlying medical condition are at risk. Stressed respiratory system is definitely a concern,” said Dr. Anil Bansal of the Delhi Medical Association.
Ozone exposure unlike other polluting gases is harmful even for a short period of time. “Ozone is the only pollutant that has a one-hour notified average safe limit of 180 micrograms per cubic metre. Along with carbon monoxide, it has an eight-hour average safe limit of 100 micrograms per cubic metre. All other pollutants have 24-hour averages. So even inhaling ozone for one hour can be harmful for asthmatics,” said Dr. T. K. Joshi, director of the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at Maulana Azad Medical College.
Environmental scientists say ozone, which is a critical pollutant, has emerged as a concern in Delhi in the last few years. The prevailing high temperatures have contributed to a spike in ozone levels in some parts of the city in the last 24 hours.
Ozone levels vary greatly between areasand areas like Anand Vihar, Civil Lines are at a disadvantage, said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment.
Ozone reduces lung function by inflaming and scarring the lining of the lungs. It can also cause chest pain, cough, and exacerbate existing respiratory diseases like asthma and bronchitis.
“We have been monitoring ozone levels since March and the levels were high during summer. Ozone is formed due to a photochemical reaction between gaseous pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and hydrocarbon gases. So heat and sunlight is a factor, which triggers this reaction,’’ she said. The Centre for Science and Environment is now demanding that alerts be issued to the general public about the spike. “The government should reduce the number of vehicles, especially diesel ones. Our study shows that frequency of days violating ozone standards has increased with the onset of summer,” said Ms. Roychowdhury.
Lost in a forest of bad ideas
The Compensatory Afforestation Bill has raised significant money, which must be used to restore existing forests rather than on artificial plantations
On Parliament’s wooden desks, a Bill is knocking.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill seeks to govern how forests will be raised, cut, and resurrected across India. It will be looking at how a fund of Rs. 38,000 crore, collected from cutting down forests, is to be used.
Meant initially just for ‘compensatory afforestation’ or plantations, the sheer size of the fund prompted the Supreme Court to set down a schema for its judicious and “appropriate” use. A major thrust of the Bill, being considered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests after being introduced in Parliament, is to use the money to set up artificial plantations, while another clause is to use it for ‘infrastructure’. While not irrelevant in themselves, a series of ecological checks are required before this money is unlocked for artificial measures: whether man-made forests or buildings.
Two immediate challenges exist. Many consider the Compensatory Afforestation money as “blood money”, as its very existence is tied down to the diversion of original forests. This leads to the question whether the proliferation of this fund should be privileged at all, and if forest diversion needs an inherent pause. At a less ideological level, the question remains: do we have land available for planting new forests?
Forests as natural resourcesThe premise of ‘compensation’ is that of a trade-off: environmental concerns will be sacrificed for developmental projects. Compensatory Afforestation relies on this notion, but it also believes that forests are replaceable fairly easily. This follows from a historic view of forests as sources of wood, bamboo and so on, rather than as systems of biodiversity. If forests are actually just seen as natural resources — with the emphasis more on ‘resources’ than on ‘natural’ — the idea of compensatory afforestation is pain-free. In the words of Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
Prakash Javadekar, forest diversion should be referred to as ‘reforestation’. This is perhaps why the Bill stresses on creating artificial plantations.
However, the science of biodiversity debunks the idea that complex forest systems can be recreated easily. Ecological restoration plays a key role in it, as does time. Secondly, several States have said that they do not have land banks for planting new forests. For this reason, parts of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds have been used in the past for purchasing forest department vehicles or repairing buildings. Further, compensatory afforestation has been undertaken on the flanks of railway lines, highways, and so on, raising trees with poor survival rates but certainly not creating biodiverse forests.
“The science of biodiversity debunks the idea that complex forest systems can be created easily.”
Rather than creating new and artificial forests, existing forest land should be restored and bought by the forest department using the CAMPA funds. This is controversial, of course. Decisions have to be made on ecological (rather than political) merit and with safeguards. Such consolidation could include areas like forest corridors (a tenuous link between two tiger reserves) and eco-sensitive areas (a riparian or estuarine system).
The Bill further suggests: ‘The money received… shall be used for artificial regeneration (plantation), assisted natural regeneration, forest management, forest protection, infrastructure development, wildlife protection and management, supply of wood and other forest produce-saving devices… in the manner as may be prescribed.” There can be many readings of these activities.
‘Infrastructure development’ and ‘supply of wood’ are confusing at best. Infrastructure, like development, could have both restorative and destructive connotations. For instance, Mr. Javadekar has asked for ‘development’ of forests by giving them to private companies for timber and wood-cutting, a first for Indian forests, traditionally controlled only by the government, while simultaneously calling for forest restoration. Similarly, infrastructure could mean watchtowers and water purification systems for forest guards or it could mean misusing the fund for administrative, non-budgeted tasks.
User agencies such as the National Highway Authority of India have suggested that the CAMPA fund be used for mitigation of wildlife deaths on roads through creation of underpasses and bypasses for animals. Other agencies might make similar demands. This is where the raison d’etre of the CAMPA fund must be remembered. It would only be fair for the fund to be used for infrastructure where such infrastructure does not deteriorate the situation for forests and wildlife. Safeguards on what kind of infrastructure CAMPA money should create will need to include wildlife impact assessments.
Not just forests
There are critical ecosystems that require attention and funding today, including marine areas, birding areas, riparian and coastal areas, and high altitude grasslands. The scale of the CAMPA fund gives us a serious chance to reimagine and recreate no-go areas for nature preservation.
The fact that most States have CAMPA funds means that these no-go areas can go beyond the States. For instance, no-go areas in the Western Ghats, which is a geomorphological unit broken up administratively by States, can be secured with CAMPA money, by putting in community compensation or incentivisation schemes along with wildlife, wetland and forest protection schemes.
In the Supreme Court’s famous lion judgment (Centre for Environmental Law WWF-1 v. Union of India and Ors), it was held that critical areas and species should be conserved through concerted action plans. CAMPA money can and should be channelised for conservation of endangered species, such as the caracal, or species that are neglected such as the stork and dugong. There is obviously no thought going into the cutting down of forests. But the much more difficult task of making up for the cutting down requires ecological inputs on a landscape level. Rather than unimaginative solutions that stop short with buildings and failed nurseries, now is the time to privilege ecological solutions.
Securing existing natural tracts, making forests contiguous, safeguarding fragile habitat, and bringing fair compensation schemes for local stakeholders is the way forward. Otherwise, we may be missing the woods for the trees.
Ahead of UN meet, India to showcase climate strategies
Farm sector contributes 17.6 per cent to Green House Gas emissions
For nearly a week now nine Ministries related to climate change have been preparing to publicly demonstrate the strategies adopted by them to counter the effects of climate change.
There is an urgency to the issue as the Prime Minister's Office impressed upon the Ministries: India has to demonstrate to the world its efforts at tackling impacts of climate change in various sectors ahead of the UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Conference of Parties (CoP) 21 later this year.
After several meetings the PMO set a schedule for the Ministries to come up with details of their efforts and strategies.
On Friday the government is releasing its Intended National Determination Commitment document which will outline the initiatives taken by India for reducing GHG emissions ahead of the Paris conference in which the participating countries are expected to reach an international agreement to tackle climate change by 2050. At Paris, heads of States are expected to agree on a post-2020 plan that will guide future actions.
India will cut carbon emissions: Javadekar
Environment Minister says he’s not a ‘climate change doomsayer’
What are India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) on climate change going to look like? This question has been the subject of much speculation in the past weeks.
In an exclusive interaction, ahead of the Narendra Modi-Barack Obama meeting in New York, in which climate change dominated the talks, Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar told The Hindu: “India’s INDCs will contain an emissions reduction target, as well as a target for reducing energy intensity.”
The Minister said the reductions may not be as far-reaching as those of China. Details are set to be announced on October 2.
In July this year, China proposed to peak its emissions around 2030 and increase its share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 per cent by the same year as part of its INDCs. Further, in a joint statement with U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that his country would launch a nationwide cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions from 2017.
Explaining India’s stance vis-à-vis China’s, Mr. Javadekar said India is no match to its populous contender when it comes to economic growth or GDP per capita. India has to put economic growth before committing itself to cut down emissions, which will slow down the economy.
Mr. Javadekar was circumspect when confronted with the possibility of India emulating the Western ‘model’ of development at home.
Further, in a joint statement with U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that his country would launch a nationwide cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions from 2017.
Value system
Mr. Javadekar is circumspect when confronted with the possibility of India emulating the Western ‘model’ of development at home, which encourages a market-driven consumer culture.
“Indian value systems do not encourage us to replicate the same consumer culture that is rampant in the West,” he asserts. “That is why we have chosen to postpone our declaration of the INDCs on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, as the man signifies Indian values of frugality and sustainable development.”
Elaborating on what he means by Indian value systems, he gives the example of how families in India still make younger children wear the clothes worn by older children in the house, not because of poverty, but because Indian value systems encourage ‘recycle and reuse’ of material goods at home.
This response is significant in the context of the adoption of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York on September 25. Mr. Modi also participated in the event. The SDGs emphasise the importance of “responsible consumption and production,” one of the 17 goals.
“Our cumulative emission is only 3 per cent, compared with countries such as the U.S. where the emissions are way higher, due to the American lifestyle,” says Mr. Javadekar.
“Here in New York, people use energy for everything, from operating lifts to heaters to air-conditioners, but in India, we do not lead such lavish lifestyles,” he says, pointing out that the climate change debate must lead to a debate on unsustainable consumption and lifestyles such as those of the average American.
As vehicular pollution is an important source of greenhouse gases, the Ministry has already taken a serious note of it. The Ministries of Transport and Petroleum are ready to support the switch to Euro 6 emission standards for vehicles, but industry is not ready for it yet, he says.
“I have personally interacted with Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and both are eager to introduce this much-needed upgrade to emission standards, but industry is not ready, which is why we are unable to take the next step,” he says.
Given that the Environment Ministry has continued to give clearance for projects, like the Mumbai coastal road, which are by the sea and are potentially vulnerable to the impact of climate change, such as a rise in the sea level or cyclones, Mr. Javadekar says that though he believes in science, he is not “a climate change doomsdayer.” Giving environmental clearances for projects like the coastal road is only helping to decongest the city, reducing vehicular traffic, which is good for addressing vehicular emissions, he argues.
Forest diversions
As per figures presented in the Lok Sabha, more than one lakh hectares of forest land have been diverted for industry in the past three years. Doesn’t this affect India’s ability to absorb the carbon it produces? To this, Javadekar said that private industry give back the same size of land they acquire for projects, and they also pay for the plantation, management and growth of the forest lost, paying for the value of the tree lost as well, which is called net present value. “Now, even Coal India is operating its new mines underground, which means we are not cutting trees any more, to open new mines. That is what we call sustainable development.”
‘Demonstrate technology used to mitigate impact of climate change’
‘Warming, temperature extremes and strong variability in rainfall are likely to impact food and livelihood security of the population in India’
Ahead of the UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Conference of Parties (CoP) 21 later this year, the Prime Minister’s Office has asked Ministries related to climate change to publicly demonstrate the technologies adopted by them to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The PMO has asked the ministries concerned to visibly demonstrate — through the media — the initiatives taken for reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions ahead of the conference in which the participating countries are expected to reach an international pact to tackle climate change by 2050. At Paris, heads of States are expected to agree on a post-2020 plan that will guide future actions.
For India, projected climate change scenarios forecast consistent warming trend with temperature increase ranging from 1.5 to 4.3°C. Warming, temperature extremes and strong variability in rainfall are likely to impact food and livelihood security of the burgeoning population in India which is dependent on agriculture, says ICARDeputy Director-General (Natural Resource Management) Alok K. Sikka.
Speaking to The Hindu Dr. Sikka said India’s strategy in agriculture would be on adaptation to changes in the climate rather than mitigation. “We cannot compromise on agricultural production and productivity. Therefore we are concentrating on climate smart practices to make our agriculture resilient to climate change.”
India to cut emissions intensity
On Thursday midnight, the Union Environment Ministry submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), committing to cut the emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels.
The INDCs, which lay out the blueprint for tackling climate change, emphasised eight key goals — sustainable lifestyles, cleaner economic development, reducing emission intensity of GDP, increasing the share of non-fossil fuel based electricity, enhancing carbon sink, adaptation and mobilising finance, technology transfer and capacity building.
Referring to India’s INDCs as “balanced and comprehensive”, Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said that for a developing nation, India’s goals for tackling climate change were far more ambitious when compared to that of other developed countries.
The text of the 38-page INDCs submissions reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on ‘climate justice” in his September 25 U.N. General Assembly address.
“When we speak of climate justice, we demonstrate our sensitivity and resolve to secure the future of the poor from the perils of natural disasters,” it quoted Mr. Modi. According to Ministry sources, the INDCs were finalised on September 23, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for the U.N. General Assembly in New York and the Cabinet cleared it.
India has committed to 40 per cent of non-fossil fuel energy to be adopted by 2030. It has also set the target of generating 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of carbon sinks in the form of forests.
The INDCs point to tripling of India’s electricity demands by 2030, for which thermal energy is unavoidable. However, Mr. Javadekar pointed out that even for thermal power, emission norms have been made more stringent. India defended its lower per capita emissions, underlining less responsibility to “act” compared to other top emitters such as U.S., China and EU. “Even now, when the per capita emissions of many developed countries vary between 7 to 15 metric tonnes, the per capita emissions in India were only about 1.56 metric tonnes in 2010,” the text said.
India has also stated its challenges in terms of human development goals, for which higher energy production and consumption is a must.
“No country in the world has been able to achieve a Human Development Index of 0.9 or more without an annual energy availability of at least 4 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per capita,” it said.
The added emphasis on non-fossil fuel energy will not affect the common man in terms of increased energy prices, the Minister assured.
He pointed out that solar power price has reduced from Rs.18 /unit to Rs. 5.9 paisa/unit, matching almost thermal conventional energy. The Minister also highlighted India’s ‘Solar Alliance’ mission to connect countries between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, to help generate more renewable energy to meet the non-fossil fuel target.
As far as financial resources for meeting the targets are concerned, India plans to raise them both at home and seek assistance from the Green Climate Fund. Mr. Javadekar said that the coal cess alone could help developed and developing nations augment the finances for green technologies.
The INDCs are the basis for negotiating the climate change agreement at the U.N. climate summit in Paris coming up in December. Of the 196 UNFCCC member countries, 86 have made their submissions so far.
India's focus on renewable energy lauded
Even as India set itself ambitious targets to tackle climate change, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) have drawn both bouquets and brickbats. While most think-tanks have welcomed the comprehensive approach to reducing carbon emissions intensity, environmentalists have expressed concern over the continued dependence on coal-fired plants for fuelling the nation’s development.
Pujarini Sen, climate and energy campaigner from Greenpeace India said she found India’s continued commitment to expand coal power capacity baffling. “Further expansion of coal power will hamper India’s development prospects, by worsening the problems of air quality and water scarcity as well as contributing to the destruction of forests and the displacement of communities. Financial analysts have predicted that electricity from renewable energy, will be cheaper than coal in future.” Instead, the stress must be on developing decentralised renewable energy systems, as this is the opportunity for 300-million Indians who still lack access to electricity, she said.
Wild pandas in China turn carnivorous, fight for meat
In a clip captured by infrared cameras, a panda was seen gnawing at the bones of a dead calf.
Wild pandas at a national nature reserve in northwest China’s Gansu province have been captured by infrared cameras in an unusual behaviour such as fighting and eating meat.
Since the beginning of 2014, staff at Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve have been observing the habits of the reserve’s 110 pandas with over 200 infrared cameras.
Reserve manager Yuan Fengxiao said, “In the past, even our staff seldom saw wild pandas, but the infrared cameras have helped us record many valuable images of the animals.”
Over 99 per cent of pandas’ diet consists of bamboo. In one clip, a panda was seen gnawing at the bones of a dead calf.
Researcher He Liwen said that besides bamboo, wild pandas are scavengers and eat meat, but rarely find carcasses of dead animals.
Another panda was seen with a bleeding forehead shortly after appearing on another camera with its forehead intact, probably as a result of fighting with other pandas or bears, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In another clip, a pair of pandas were wandering in the woods when one discovered the camera and started to chew on it.
Spread over 2,00,000 hectares, the Baishuijiang reserve is one of China’s largest reserves for wild pandas.
Mr. Yuan said that about 500 species of animals and over 2,000 kinds of wild plants have been recorded there.
The infrared cameras have also captured footage of other rare species including the golden monkey and Takin.
Pro-active measures mooted to mitigate human-animal conflicts
Greater public awareness on animal behaviour, the protocol to handle conflict situations and pro-active initiatives to help people reduce their losses are some of the measures mooted to mitigate man-animal conflicts.
Vidya Athreya, Senior Research Fellow, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India Programme, who is studying leopards, said here on Thursday that some of these measures could help people reduce their losses while helping to save the wild cats as well.
She was speaking at a workshop on human-animal interactions and the resulting conflicts, organised by WCS in collaboration with the Mysore District Journalists’ Association.
Building effective pens or sheds to protect livestock from predators would go a long way in mitigating losses while reducing conflicts, said Ms. Athreya.
In rural areas with leopard population, if the farmers have to go to fields at night, it was best to go in groups or by making noise, lest the leopard mistake them for prey.
She said that though translocation of leopards has been adopted by the Forest Department, it has not worked as the space left vacant by the animals will be occupied by another cat or the conflict will be transferred to another region. Incidentally, about 20 leopards have been trapped, caged and released into the forests in Mysuru region in the last two years but it is not clear whether the problem has abated. But it is done to soothe the frayed nerves of the local community, who otherwise, may indulge in revenge killings.
Citing from her own research in Maharashtra, she said that there has never been a human death due to leopard attack though there may have been accidental injury as leopards tend to shy away from humans.
The conflict however was real as leopards outside national parks and wildlife sanctuaries preyed on domestic animals and almost 40 per cent of its diet consisted of dogs.
‘They do not have boundaries’
A key factor why animals “stray” from their habitats is that they do not follow man-made boundaries but will go where resources are.
Research shows that leopards are capable of living outside forests, in croplands, in areas with high density of people and with very low levels of conflict, according to Vidya Athreya of Wildlife Conservation Society at a workshop here on Thursday.
Citing field research, she said that capturing leopards simply because they are seen can increase the conflict and results from Maharashtra show that attacks on humans increase near release sites.
The results of our work also show that dialogue with stake-holders is extremely important to alleviate conflict, she added.
Prithviraj Fernando, scientist, Centre for Conservation and Research, Sri Lanka, spoke on the human-elephant conflicts and shared the Sri Lankan experience in handling the situations which had parallels in India.
He pointed out that the translocation of elephants will not ease the conflict which was a direct fallout of planned and unplanned development. He said that long-term elephant conservation require land use planning based on human development needs as well as elephant needs.
Ranjeeth Jadhav, journalist, highlighted the role of the media in reporting human-leopard interactions in Mumbai where leopards are often cited in the vicinity of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park which sustains about 30 leopards.
The crux of his presentation was that the media should not sensationalise the incidents but present it in a manner so that the conflicts are resolved peacefully without the administration taking knee-jerk actions which can only escalate conflict situations.
‘ Capturing leopards simply because they are seen can increase the conflict’
Notification on ESZ around Okhla sanctuary challenged
As environmentalists see red over the Centre's notification limiting the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Okhla Bird Sanctuary, activist and birder Anand Arya challenged the decision before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday.
Mr. Arya challenged the August 19 notification of the Centre setting the extent of eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary as 100 metres on all sides, except northern, and 1.27 km on the northern boundary.
His counsel Rahul Choudhary told the Bench that the notification is in violation of all legislative policies, including the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act.
The notification on the sanctuary, which is one among the several ornithologically-significant sites along the 50-km stretch of the Yamuna, had rejoiced many big builders and investors, who have projects or have brought homes in the area.
“The notification will not only adversely affect the community at large, but will also result in the violation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; Biological Diversity Act, 2002; precautionary principle; principle of sustainable development; inter-generational equity; and the principle of eco-centrism, all of which are law of the land as propounded by the Supreme Court,” Mr. Choudhary said.
A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Centre, the State of Uttar Pradesh, chief wildlife warden, and the government of NCT of Delhi seeking their response in two weeks.
Habitat of a new species of frog under threat
It was nine years ago that a team of researchers from St. Aloysius College and Japan found a new species of frog on the outskirts of the city. Now the habitat of the frog at Adyar is under threat due to extensive land filling activities, says one of the researchers.
The frog Euphlyctes aloysii , was named after St. Aloysius College, by the researchers Hareesh Joshy, the then head of the Department of Zoology of the college and Mitusuru Kuramoto, Emeritus Professor, Fukuoka University, Japan.
Mr. Joshy, who has now retired from the college, told The Hindu that the frog was found in paddy fields and marshy land in Adyar and Bajpe.
Now land filling along the Mangaluru-Bengaluru national highway between Padil and B.C. Road, including Adyar, has threatened the habitat of the frog.
The Alytes , an international journal specialised on amphibians published by Paris Musuem in France reported the finding of the frog by them in 2009.
Mr. Joshy said, though the existence of the frog was noticed in 2006, it took three years to establish through research that it was a new species of the frog of the Western Ghats. That the frog was a new species was established through taxonomical (morphological study or study of external features), molecular (DNA study) and acoustic (crocking sound of frog) studies.
Euphlyctes aloysii was a tiny water frog with a mixture of dark brown and green colour. It has a thin mid-dorsal white stripe, small black spots distributed randomly from beneath the eye to the fore limb base. At night, the dorsal side becomes darker and greener in colour and the dorsal marking becomes slowly inconspicuous.
Mr. Joshi said that due to land filling at Adyar there would be two possibilities. Either they would have been migrated or their population would have declined.
He said frogs played a pivotal role in controlling mosquitoes and pest insects. Threat to their habitat is a cause of concern.
Good water going down the drain
Barely four per cent of treated water is used, with the rest either being let off into polluted lakes or streams
While alarm bells are ready to go off regarding water shortage, millions of litres of treated water literally go down the drain.
Earlier this week, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSCPB) asked Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to furnish the amount of tertiary water generated and its use in the city.
In the past, faced with successive droughts, government orders (issued in 2003 and 2008 on recommendations of KSPCB) mandated the use of treated water “for non-potable purposes, like all gardening in parks, resorts and golf courses; washing, servicing and cleaning of vehicles and all civil construction activities”.
However, barely four per cent of the treated water is used currently, with the remaining either being let off into polluted lakes or streams.
“While giving environment clearances to construction companies in the vicinity of these plants, we can mandate that they use only treated water. This way, we can monitor and penalise those who are using groundwater for construction,” said Ramachandra, Chairperson, KSPCB.
Water quality
Numerous builders have petitioned KSPCB against the use of tertiary water, claiming the high levels of sodium, potassium, nitrates and heavy metals in treated water affect setting of concrete.
“Many builders tried to use it, but stopped almost immediately as construction workers refuse to touch the water,” said R. Nagaraj, president of the builder’s body CREDAI.
Taking cognisance of the complaint, KSPCB directed BWSSB to improve the standards of the water produced.
BWSSB Chairperson T.M. Vijay Bhaskar said much of their plants are idling due to lack of demand. “We have sent requests to builders, Public Works Department, BMRCL to use this water,” he said. He added that water produced is being tested frequently and no problem had been found.
Similarly, the BBMP is being asked to use this water for watering parks, playgrounds and cleaning public places.
Mr. Vijay Bhaskar said, “The issue is transportation of water from the plant to the area of use. A piping network is unavailable. Further discussions with stakeholders will be held.”
We will make it mandatory for construction companies to use treated water. If these companies cannot produce documents of purchase from BWSSB, then they can be booked for violations. We can save millions of litres daily
Harvest rain water or pay penalty
BWSSB aims to enforce its proposal from March 2016
Not implementing Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) at home may land you in a soup forcing you to pay a fine of 25 per cent of your water bill for three months progressively hiked to half your monthly bill till you harvest rain water.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), in its board meeting on Thursday, approved the proposal, which has been sent to Urban Development Department (UDD) for approval.
BWSSB brought in guidelines in 2009 making all sites of 40 ft X 60 sq ft and above to implement RWH with a one-year deadline. Of around 55,000 properties that this applied to, only close to 25,000 implemented RWH.
“It has been five years since its deadline expired. People have been making excuses and not implementing RWH, even as underground water levels are fast depleting. So we have decided to bring in this penalty regime,” said T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, Chairman, BWSSB.
“Ideally, we want to see the regime operational as we speak. But we are working on a March 1, 2016 deadline after which we will start penalising residents. The government has to approve the proposal and notify it,” he said.
However S. Vishwanath, who aided BWSSB in drafting the RWH policy, is sceptical of the new guidelines. He said it is yet to be seen whether the penalty regime will work to bring more properties into the fold. “The main issue is that there is no incentive to harvest rain water. BWSSB provides highly subsidised water at Rs. 8 a kilo litre while the capital cost of RWH is high,” he said.
He also differed with BWSSB on its focus on the core city. BWSSB needs to concentrate more on the outskirts where underground water levels are pretty low, rather than the core city where underground water levels are high, he explained.
Mini STP in all buildings with more than 5 flats
The BWSSB has decided to make a mini-Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) mandatory for all buildings with more than five flats.
The guidelines also include a mandatory two-piping policy for all bathrooms. One pipeline will be exclusively used for flushing toilets using recycled water from the STP.
“An estimated 40 – 50 litres of water is wasted in flushing a toilet every day. Water recycled in the mini-STP can be used to flush toilets, saving that much water. This is safe as the water will not in any way come in contact with the human body,” said T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, Chairman, BWSSB.
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Scientists trigger artificial quake on Japanese mountain
Researchers have triggered an artificial earthquake on a mountain in Japan in search of data to help find signs of possible volcanic eruptions.
Mount Zao is a 1,841-metres high complex volcano on the border between Yamagata Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture in Japan.
It has become active since a magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit Japan in March 2011, with increased volcanic tremors.
A team from Tohoku University, together with Japan Meteorological Agency, detonated about 200 kg of dynamite inside a 40-metre-deep hole dug on the mountain side.
Water poured inside the hole spewed out with the force of the blast.
Seismic waves from the blast were measured by about 150 seismometers placed on the mountain, ‘NHK World’ reported.
Since seismic waves travel more slowly through water, analysis of seismometer data enables researchers to estimate pools and pathways of hot water up to about two km underground.
Satoshi Miura, a Professor at Tohoku University, said finding out the locations of hot water is a key to guessing where the next steam-blast explosion could occur.
Wild animals thrive at Chernobyl
Three decades after the world’s worst nuclear accident turned a vast area around Chernobyl into an uninhabitable “exclusion zone,” scientists are surprised to find it packed with wildlife. Wolves, elks, lynx, red deer and wild boar have reclaimed this abandoned site despite the radiation exposure, finds a study published in Current Biology.
As many as 116,000 people were evacuated from the Chernobyl exclusion zone after the nuclear disaster in 1986. The proliferation of animals is “unique evidence of wildlife’s resilience in the face of chronic radiation stress,” says the paper. While there may be some effects on individual animals, the populations are thriving, particularly in the absence of people, co-author J.T. Smith, Professor at School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth told this Correspondent.
A helicopter survey revealed rising numbers of elk, roe deer and wild boar 10 years after the accident. But most notably, the wolf density was found to be seven times higher in the exclusion zone than it is in other nature reserves in the region. “Before the Chernobyl accident, mammal population densities were likely depressed due to hunting, forestry and agriculture,” say the authors. The study also looked at animal tracks on the snow to test whether the more contaminated routes had fewer tracks. “We didn't find a correlation. We couldn't see a difference in the number of tracks between more and less contaminated areas,” says Prof. Smith. The winter track censuses identified over a dozen species including, weasel, lynx, pine marten, raccoon dog, mink, ermine, stone marten, polecat, European hare and red squirrel.
Radiation is known to damage DNA, “but we have to remember that radiation dose rates now are more than 100 times less than in the first days after the accident,” says Prof Smith. “While still very significant, the radiation levels we see now aren't expected to do major damage to animals' physiology and reproductive systems.”
The very high radiation dose rates during the first six months after the accident “significantly affected animal health and reproduction at Chernobyl,” but long-term radiation damage to wildlife “is not apparent from our trend analysis of large mammal abundances,” the paper concludes.
Centre sanctions Rs. 64 crore for Coastal Tourism Circuit in Nellore
The Centre has sanctioned Rs. 64 crore for implementation of the Coastal Tourism Circuit for Nellore district.
Responding to Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation’s (APTDC) proposals worth Rs. 100 crore for the project, the Union Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned Rs. 64 crore for the purpose under its Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
The Swadesh Darshan programme is an integrated development of tourist circuits around specific themes and the Coastal Tourism Circuit for Nellore is one of the five circuits indentified under this scheme. Others are: Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Krishna Circuit and North-East Circuit.
R. Amarendra Kumar, the Executive Director (Projects), APTDC, said the mega project would pave the way for beautification of the coastline comprising scenic beaches, destinations of heritage and cultural importance.
Nellore region is strategically located as it is well connected to cities like Chennai, Tirupati and Bengaluru. The existing Sri City and the proposed Industrial Smart City under Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor will also help in attracting a large number of visitors to the district.
The proposed tourism circuit in this region envisages linking all the attractive features like the Pulicat Lake (B V Palem, Irakkum and Venadu Islands, Atakanitippa), the Nelapattu Birds sanctuary, the Kandaleru reservoir, Nellore tank bund, the Kothakoduru and Mypadu beaches, Ramatheertham temple and beach, Iskapalli beach, Udayagiri Fort and Krishnapatnam cruise terminal.
The Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lake in India; the flamingos here are nature’s gift. The sight of winged beauties at Nelapattu bird sanctuary is a feast to the eyes; The satellite launch pad of India —Sriharikota — has a great significance while the Krishnapatnam Port is India’s largest port on the horizon.Besides sumptuous Nellore cuisine, the place offers fascinating green spaces and mesmerising temples.
(This post will be updated at the end of the month )
