Mill discharge turns gentle Pavana into an angry, red river

PUNE, Nov 17: The Pavana river, the lifeline of Pimpri-Chinchwad township, turned red and smelly on Wednesday when a large quantity of in...

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PUNE, Nov 17: The Pavana river, the lifeline of Pimpri-Chinchwad township, turned red and smelly on Wednesday when a large quantity of industrial effluent was released in a nullah joining the river at Thergaon.

Local residents were in a tizzy when the nearly 5 km stretch of the river — from Thergaon to Pimpri and beyond — acquired a deep red hue, courtesy a soapy discharge throughout the day from the Pudumjee Paper Mill. Till late in the evening, the effluent release had not stopped.

The only consolation for the locals was that the point at Thergaon, where the nullah carrying the effluent enters the river, is downstream and beyond the Ravet point from where the township picks up raw water to meet its drinking water requirements. Hence, there is no risk of drinking water to the township becoming polluted. Beyond Chinchwad and Thergaon, residents normally use the river water for washing purposes.

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When the comments of Pudumjee Paper Mill officials was sought, they claimed that the effluent was not at all harmful and there was no reason for people to panic. Incidentally, officials of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) were unaware of the effluent discharge. Nor had they noticed that the river had turned completely red.

When the incident was brought to the notice of senior PCMC medical officer K.Nagkumar, he said that samples of the effluent would be collected and sent to the government laboratory for analysis on Thursday. Incidentally, Nagkumar had been authorised recently by municipal commissioner B.I.Nagrale to file court cases against industries causing pollution.

V D Khanolkar, manager in-charge of the effluent treatment plant of the Pudumjee Paper Mill, told Pune Newsline that the mill had been releasing the effluents daily and the colour appeared red on Wednesday because of the colour of the paper produced. Maintaining that the effluent treatment plant of the paper mill was fully operational, Khanolkar said that only the treated effluent was being released into the nullah.

Claiming that there was no cause for concern, Khanolkar said that most effluent released from the mill was first used for agriculture purposes and the excess effluent was going into the nullah.

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“Production had been reduced by half the normal capacity at the mill. About 8000 cubic meters meters of effluent was released by the mill everyday,” Khanolkar said, adding that the red color of the effluent was only once a month.

But people living along the river bank clearly had a problem on hand. Because of the soapy nature and red colour of the water, people at Kalewadi and Pimpri could not even use it for washing purposes. Thick layers of foam could be seen along the banks of the river.

This year’s environment status report of the PCMC, prepared by Dr Nagkumar, mentions that most companies do not follow prescribed guidelines of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board in taking adequate measures of treating industrial effluents before discharge. The report also states that Pudumjee Paper mill is one of the industries which requires the maximum quantity of water for industrial production.