Water, now waste pile-up turns a major concern in Kerala

Kerala - Pungent smelling smoke could be seen rising from many compounds as people have started burning the unusable items.

After facing the worst deluge in a century, flood-ravaged Kerala is battling another disaster - tonnes of undisposed waste that can cause an environmental catastrophe.
The colossal challenge of waste management that faces the state government is visible when you drive around flood-hit areas in Cochin. Small alleys and housing compounds looked as though they were struck with a hurricane that sent everything flying on its path.
Big piles of soiled clothes, muddied household items like mattresses and utensils, books, documents, furniture - mounts of them lay strewn all over the place.
With flood waters receding and many people going back to their homes, it is a daunting task for them to get rid of the waste. Pungent smelling smoke could be seeing rising from many compounds as people have started burning the unusable items.
"You tell me, what else can I do? Is anyone from the local government helping us with this?" asks a visibly upset Ramanunny, who runs a textile agency in Kochi.
"Most of the things are unusable. I am not asking for any compensation. I can live with the loss. But I need someone to come and remove the waste from my compound," he said.
Flood waters have left behind muck and mud inside swamped houses and shops, stripping families of all their possessions. Many said they had to first empty out the house to start cleaning.
"There is hardly anything that we can use. Furniture, electronic items, bedsheets, curtains - everything is covered in mud and silt. We have no choice but to get rid of them," said Latha, a housewife.
She said all they could salvage was some important documents and some money when the flood waters swallowed her house. "Everything we had built up got washed away. I don't have the heart to throw it all away, but what else can I do?" she asked.
Murali Thummarukudy, head of Disaster Risk Reduction in the UN Environment, had earlier told Khaleej Times in an interview that the massive waste management problem is something the state will have to deal with.
"Some other disasters I have managed, one week of flooding created an equivalent of ten years of solid waste. If the city cannot even manage the normal solid waste, you can imagine what kind of pressure it is going to put on the waste management system," said the UN expert.
"Segregating waste is important. Each local panchayat should set up a collection point, and people should be patient for a few more days till the government comes up with an efficient system to dispose of waste," he added.
Electronic waste generated from damaged televisions, refrigerators, mobile phones etc is another problem that can have far-reaching impact on the environment.
"Electronic equipment contains so many toxins like mercury, zinc, magnesium and lithium. Some of the metals even have radio-active materials. All of this will have direct impact on human life and cyclic impact on our eco-system," Harish Vasudevan, a prominent environmental activist told Khaleej Times.
"If families dump electronic waste in their compounds or in landfills, toxins will immediately get in direct contact with drinking water in ponds and wells. The environmental impact of this will be far worse in Kerala than anywhere else due to the decentralised water distribution system in the state," he added.
"After spending million on rescuing people from floods, we cannot expose them to these environmental hazards, which is a bigger threat to their health."
When asked how the state government is planning to tackle the waste accumulation, Kerala's transportation minister A K Saseendran told Khaleej Times a 24/7 control centre has been set up in Thiruvananthapuram to support people. "If people need technicians, they can request it through the call centre and we will address it," he said.
Haritha Kerala Mission, an initiative to integrate waste management and water resource management in the state is also coordinating the cleaning process. It has deployed 50 high-power pump sets in flood-affected areas.
anjana@khaleejtimes.com

• India