Kerala Pollution Control Board moots use of mobile app to identify pollution sources in Edappally, Perandoor canals

Kerala Pollution Control Board moots use of mobile app to identify pollution sources in Edappally, Perandoor canals

The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has proposed the use of a mobile application to identify pollution sources in Edappally and Perandoor canals and discharge points from households and commercial establishments into the canals.

The data generated will be used to develop a map of the polluting sources as part of a study to set up a scientific mechanism to check the rampant discharge of untreated wastewater into the two major canals. The proposal was placed at a meeting held recently as part of the feasibility study conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) to develop a solution to the pollution of waterbodies.

The study was initiated on the directive of 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.

The CSIR-NEERI had asked the PCB to submit secondary data on pollution loads from sewage discharge along the canals as part of preparing the final report on the feasibility study. The board discussed the use of a mobile application, ‘Enviclean’, at the meeting as senior officials said it could be used by project assistants to identify pollution sources and discharge points from major establishments. The app has a feature that allows users to add latitude and longitude without needing to visit the coordinates physically, they said.