A highly contaminated pond in Duttabad is getting rejuvenated in a pilot project which, if successful, will be replicated across the water bodies of the area.
The project is a joint initiative of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) and the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. It was launched on Monday remotely from CA Market by minister-in-charge of the environment department, Md. Ghulam Rabbani in the presence of MLA and minister Sujit Bose, local councilor and mayor-in-council member Rajesh Chirimar, and others.
“The corporation clears ponds off hyacinths, ensures flow in the water to prevent mosquitoes etc but there are many ponds here whose water quality has deteriorated so much that one cannot even dip one’s hands into it, let alone drink or bathe,” said Chirimar, councilor of ward 39, under which the pond lies. “For this, we needed intervention from the PCB.”
The pond is opposite Bidyadhari Vidyalaya near DA Block.
WBPCB chairman Kalyan Rudra said that several parameters in the pond water had shot off the charts. “Various kinds of waste have mixed here and dropped the dissolved oxygen level in the water and shot up the biochemical oxygen demand and coliform bacteria counts,” he said.
“We have asked the local authorities to stop residents from littering the water and we will be using a new product developed by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISER) that we have tested and found effective in such conditions. It will reduce the sludge under the water and improve quality.”
This product has been developed under an MOU signed by IISER Kolkata and WJ Décor, a company from Nagaland. A version of this product, Aerobio, is also being tested to clear clogged toilets in Duttabad in another project Chirimar had launched a few weeks ago.
“The clean-up should take three to four months depending on the severity of the water,” said the councilor. “Once it is complete and we gain the confidence of the locals, we can move on to more ponds and at the same time urge them to keep it clean,” said Chirimar.