There is a need to take all possible measures to prevent JK’s environment and ecology getting polluted on a large scale.Coordinator, Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell, Tassaduq Mufti today said this during his meeting with senior officers of J&K State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) to discuss issues pertaining to pollution.
During the meeting, many concerns related to increasing pollution level in the environment were discussed in length including pollution caused by cement factories, brick kilns and stone crushers, pollution of water bodies by untreated sewage, untreated solid waste, status of Bio-Medical Waste Disposal, Solid Waste Management, impact of ban on plastic carry bags, Electronic Waste disposal, containment of drinking water sources by pesticides and waste of Sewage treatment plants, implementation of noise pollution code in sensitive areas, infrastructure put in place for water, air quality monitoring and others.
Members from civil society also raised various concerns to draw the attention of the government towards putting a check on activities leads to increase pollution level in the environment.
Terming Environment Pollution a threat to human as well as other living beings, Tassaduq Mufti asked the State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to work effectively and efficiently for eliminating industrial pollution, air pollution, water pollution and the over pollution in the ambience.
While discussing the issue of pollution caused by cement factories and brick kilns, officers of PCB informed the meeting that guidelines have been already issued to install on-line Continuous (24×7) Monitoring Devices for better monitoring.
Issue of brick kilns being operated illegally and contributing in releasing emissions in the air was discussed.
Further they said that the District Magistrate has conferred with the power to shut down the operations of brick kilns running illegally.
Tassaduq Mufti asked the PCB to provide inputs so that a mechanism can be put in place to check establishment of illegal brick kilns.
Discussing the issue of containment of water sources by Sewage treatment plant waste and other means, Tassaduq Mufti asked the concerned officers to take all necessary measures to save these water bodies from getting polluted.
PCB officers informed the meeting that monitoring of water quality is being done on regular basis and reports are being sent to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

April 2017: NSW Land and Environment Court ordered Council to pay $175,000 for sewage spill Hawkesbury City Council (HC Council) owns and operates a sewage treatment plant in New South Wales and holds an environment protection licence (EPL) for the premises in respect of sewage treatment.
HC Council employees carried out maintenance work of certain plant and equipment including reinstalling parts.
HC Council pleaded guilty to each offence.
Justice Pain noted that the incidents were in the moderate to high end of the low range of objective seriousness and resulted from obvious deficiencies in HC Council’s operating systems, particularly the absence of maintenance checks.
More spills in NSW The EPA has a number of options when determining to regulate a breach of the POEO Act.
For example, it may issue a penalty notice, enter into an enforceable undertaking with the offender or, for more serious offences, like the HC Council example, prosecute.
Penalty notice offences A penalty notice for pollution of waters can attract a penalty of up to $15,000 (for a corporation) for each offence.
This includes undertaking physical works and plant upgrades as well as improving environmental compliance systems, including updating practices and procedures and undertaking employee training; and Financial contributions to an environmental project.
Thames Water was charged with 14 offences involving discharge of untreated sewage into the River Thames from four sewage treatment works and a large sewage pumping station.
Thames Water pleaded guilty to all offences and was fined over 20 million GBP.

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) received complaints last year that the flaring temperature of the landfill gas treatment facility of PPVRL had failed to reach the contractual requirement of 1 000 degrees Celsius, leading to the discharge of sub-standard leachate into the foul sewer and untreated leachate into a nearby stream.
An investigation team was subsequently set up by the EPD to conduct thorough investigation on the complaints.
A test conducted by the investigation team on-site in May 2016 found that the leachate treatment plant failed to handle leachate effectively, and was therefore required to suspend operation to conduct thorough repair works.
Regarding whether sub-standard effluent had been discharged from PPVRL, the investigation found that the leachate concentration was at relatively low levels as the landfill had been closed for many years and sometimes the leachate could meet the dry season discharge standard even without pre-treatment.
However, since the mixing of leachate could not meet the wet season discharge standard, the investigation team could not exclude the possibility that sub-standard discharge had happened given that the treatment plant could not handle the leachate effectively.
The follow-up actions taken by the EPD’s enforcement team found that the discharge of the leachate treatment plant during the period from May to mid-October 2016 repeatedly contravened the requirements of the licence issued under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance.
It was found that the total nitrogen level in the discharge exceeded the specified limit in the licence on eight occasions, the amount of discharge exceeded the discharge flow limit specified in the licence on 10 occasions, and the contractor also failed to notify the EPD immediately on two occasions when the amount of discharge exceeded the discharge flow limit.
The investigation team had referred the relevant information to the Police for follow-up on whether someone had deliberately provided inaccurate data or false statements to the EPD.
As the leachate treatment plant has failed to meet the contractual requirements of treating leachate effectively, the EPD has deducted operation payments according to the contract provisions.
The EPD will continue to closely monitor the operation of PPVRL.

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) received complaints last year that the flaring temperature of the landfill gas treatment facility of PPVRL had failed to reach the contractual requirement of 1 000 degrees Celsius, leading to the discharge of sub-standard leachate into the foul sewer and untreated leachate into a nearby stream.
A test conducted by the investigation team on-site in May 2016 found that the leachate treatment plant failed to handle leachate effectively, and was therefore required to suspend operation to conduct thorough repair works.
Regarding whether sub-standard effluent had been discharged from PPVRL, the investigation found that the leachate concentration was at relatively low levels as the landfill had been closed for many years and sometimes the leachate could meet the dry season discharge standard even without pre-treatment.
However, since the mixing of leachate could not meet the wet season discharge standard, the investigation team could not exclude the possibility that sub-standard discharge had happened given that the treatment plant could not handle the leachate effectively.
The follow-up actions taken by the EPD’s enforcement team found that the discharge of the leachate treatment plant during the period from May to mid-October 2016 repeatedly contravened the requirements of the licence issued under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance.
It was found that the total nitrogen level in the discharge exceeded the specified limit in the licence on eight occasions, the amount of discharge exceeded the discharge flow limit specified in the licence on 10 occasions, and the contractor also failed to notify the EPD immediately on two occasions when the amount of discharge exceeded the discharge flow limit.
The investigation team had referred the relevant information to the Police for follow-up on whether someone had deliberately provided inaccurate data or false statements to the EPD.
A spokesman for the EPD said that the department is gravely concerned about the management and monitoring by the contractors of its facilities.
As the leachate treatment plant has failed to meet the contractual requirements of treating leachate effectively, the EPD has deducted operation payments according to the contract provisions.
The investigation findings (English only) have been uploaded to the EPD’s website for public viewing (http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/studyrpts/waste_studyrpts.html" target="_blank">www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/studyrpts/waste_studyrpts.html).

Merrimack River: MRWC wants CSO annoucements.
TEWKSBURY — The Merrimack River provides five cities and 600,000 residents in New Hampshire and Massachusetts with drinking water; it also collects sewage from treatment plants that do not have any obligation to inform anyone when they dump the combination of polluted rainwater runoff and raw sewage into the river.
“The Merrimack water isn’t clean; it has to be treated to be drinking water for Lowell, Lawrence, Andover, and other towns on the Merrimack.
Then, the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, which allowed the water from the combined source systems to be taken into sewage treatment plants.
“When it rains heavily, the sewage treatment plant can’t handle the amount of flow, so the proprietors have built an overflow valve that allows the sewage system to dump directly into the river.
The sewage system that is part of these cities (Manchester, Nashua, Lawrence, Lowell, and Haverhill) overflows into the Merrimack.” The concern for Russell and others at the MRWC is the number of people relying on the Merrimack River for drinking water.
“I’m not saying that the water is polluted, but it’s more at risk than other water systems.” “Some sewer systems allow people to sign up for an email list, so I get a notice from Haverhill at some point after there’s been a CSO,” said Russell.
The public doesn’t have a right to know.” His next step, after being a concerned citizen, is bringing more attention to Senate Bill 448.
Haverhill’s 2016 CSO report says that their combined sewage discharged into the Merrimack did not receive any treatment.
According to the MRWC, almost all of the 600,000 people drinking from the Merrimack live below at least one of the sewage treatment plants that release untreated combined sewage and runoff.

Town of Lewiston: Water, water, everywhere.
WWTP administrator discusses recent sewer back-ups Editor-in-Chief Following last week’s deluge of rains, there was water, water everywhere – much of it in residents’ basements – Lewiston wastewater treatment plant administrator Jeff Ritter told Supervisor Steve Broderick and the Lewiston Town Board meeting on Monday.
He told board members that, normally by this time of the year, Lewiston typically averages 6.6 inches of rain.
"It’s an all-time record for the treatment plant for the first five months of the year," Ritter said.
"The treatment plant can only pump the water as fast as it can get there," he continued.
"And there are several irate homeowners who blame the town when there is flooding."
Ritter said adding a half-dozen or more illegal sump pump hook-ups to the sanitary sewer "would definitely help surcharge the system."
They will essentially drain their lawn to the town’s sanitary sewer system, he said.
He told the board his department "responded to every call with a sewer backup."
The hearing was left open, with Town Board action expected at the May 22 session.

To find out what would be lost if it’s defunded, let’s start in a yard next to the Severn River in Maryland.
A lot of septic tanks break down, often invisibly, and what’s inside pollutes waterways.
She’s looking for a particular kind of pollution — nitrogen.
Harris explains that nitrogen in a river or bay is fine in the right amount.
In fact, excess nitrogen is the single largest pollution problem in coastal waters, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
So her team is developing a chemical fingerprint that could pinpoint nitrogen pollution from septic tanks.
Harris spends a lot of time in waders, hopscotching all over the Chesapeake Bay area to sample water, mostly near housing developments.
Her research colleague Andrew Heyes explains that the septic fingerprint they’re working on targets more than just nitrogen compounds.
"Some of the compounds you use in your soap, pharmaceuticals — all the things that you flush down the toilet or pass through your body end up going through the septic system."
Gonsior has identified some 15,000 compounds in septic water.

Sewer systems leave many newly built wastewater treatment plants with idle capacity.
Despite the buildup of sewage treatment facilities around the country over this decade, insufficient sewer systems are gumming up the works for China’s wastewater treatment plants.
In bigger cities, officials have long favored public works projects that people can see – such as wastewater treatment plants – over projects people can’t see – such as sewer pipes, according to the Economic Information Daily report.
In cities, the main sewer lines generally run along the major roadways, so they don’t have any major problems channeling wastewater, Zhang said.
The real problem is with the network of smaller pipes that reach across the city, according to Zhang.
That translates to three problems for every kilometer of sewer pipeline.
However, because the state of sewer systems in rural areas is often worse than in cities, much of that new sewer treatment capacity ends up idle, the Economic Information Daily report said.
Planned improvements China plans to spend 564.4 billion yuan ($81.79 billion) on the country’s sewer systems and wastewater treatment facilities during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), according to the Economic Information Daily report.
The government aims to increase newly added capacity to treat sludge with organic detoxification methods by 160.7 percent to 60,100 tons per day during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), according to the Economic Information Daily report.
It also plans to increase the amount of recycled wastewater by 56.7 percent to 15.05 million cubic meters per day.

An official at the wastewater treatment plant in the town said the volume of rain resulted in surface water getting into the sewage system.
Despite some discoloration of the water coming up through people’s sump pumps and drain pipes, it is mostly rainwater coming from the sanitary sewers, said Jeff Ritter, chief operator at the sewage treatment plant and water pollution control center.
Ritter said he was unable to determine how many homes were affected Friday.
"I do know that, if your house was built before a certain time, they have the sewer laterals go underneath their basement slabs.
He said the problem may have been exacerbated in cases where residents have their sump pumps illegally connected to the sanitary sewers.
"The sump pump is supposed to go to the storm sewer," Ritter said.
He said the town’s sewer system has cracks in it and compromised spots where ground water can get in, especially in cases where there has been heavy rainfall.
You can have a brand new sewer system with only five houses hooked into it, if you have this much water come down, you’re going to get flooded," Ritter said.
The town of Porter, village of Youngstown, and the village and town of Lewiston contribute to the sewage treatment plant in the town.
Our storm sewers have not been able to convey the water fast enough.

Pure Water Monterey recycled water project hailed at groundbreaking, challenges remain.
But a key official acknowledged the already complex project still faces a number of hurdles before it begins construction or operation, including potential cost overruns that could end up on Monterey Peninsula water bills and a complicated discharge permit.
Local, state and federal public officials hailed a key milestone for the $100 million groundwater replenishment project backed by a public-private partnership between the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency, the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District and California American Water, as well as a range of other local public agencies, that would tap various Monterey Peninsula and Salinas Valley wastewater sources for treatment to drinking water standards for use by Peninsula homes and businesses, and for expanded Salinas Valley agricultural irrigation.
The ceremony was held at the recycled water plant project site near the existing Pollution Control Agency wastewater treatment plant.
The proposal is designed to provide 3,500 acre-feet of potable water for injection into the Seaside basin, where it will mix with other water sources and eventually be pumped out for later use, allowing Cal Am to purchase the water for its Monterey district customers by mid-2019, and allow a corresponding reduction in Carmel River water use well before Cal Am’s pending desalination plant project is expected to be online.
Water management district general manager Dave Stoldt dubbed the proposal a “project for the future” that could be replicated statewide as California prepares its water supply to meet the needs of the estimated 50 million residents expected by 2050.
However, the first round of bids on the core portion of the project — the plant and pump station — came in about $12.3 million higher than the $41.5 million budget, prompting the agency to pursue a second round of bids after making a series of changes designed to reduce costs and attract more bidders, including “elongating” the 18-month construction schedule to 21 months, and setting a meeting with contractors next week to solicit further cost-savings ideas.
However, if the bids remain significantly higher than budget, Sciuto said the agency might have to return to the state Public Utilities Commission to request an increase in the $1,720-per-acre-foot cost cap that Cal Am customers would pay for the water, and would likely also have to ask the agency board for permission to proceed with construction even with the cost overage.
Further complicating the issue, the agency is also seeking permission to add brine from the planned Cal Am desal plant as part of the permit.
This project is going to be finished.” Jim Johnson can be reached at 831-726-4348.