MIINTIING MONEEY ON MYTH

Zero liquid discharge claim of drug units

Bulk drug manufacturers in and around the State capital are taking people for granted and managing powers-that-be to have their way on the basis of a false claim regarding Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) through adoption of state-of-the-art pollution treatment technologies, suggests Capt J Rama Rao

The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), considering pollution problems and the need to protect drinking and irrigation water sources, issued a notification on October 14, 1996 restricting establishment and expansion of bulk drug industries in the industrial estates of Ranga Reddy, Medak, Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts for two years from January 1, 1997. Subsequently, the AP Government issued GO Ms No 62 on April 28, 1999 making the APPCB ban notification permanent. This was done in compliance with the Supreme Court’s interim orders dated May 12, 1998 in WP No 1056/90.

In spite of the ban order, several bulk drug industries have been indulging in excess production of questionable products with impunity all these years. The penal action for the violations is being circumvented through litigation and by influencing policymakers.

The Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA) advocated that industries which had recorded Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) through adoption of state-of-the-art pollution treatment technologies be permitted to expand their capacities notwithstanding the ban order. It also argued that the industry be permitted to undertake production of new products in the prohibited areas for as long as the permitted pollution load does not exceed at the point of discharge.

Conceding the request of BDMA, GO Ms No 64, dated July 25, 2013, was issued, relaxing restrictions on the expansion of existing water polluting bulk drug units in and around Hyderabad. This has confirmed the apprehensions of the public, regarding the capacity of the bulk drug industry to manipulate policy makers and decision makers.

The myth

The big question is: How is zero liquid (ZLD) discharge going to help the reduction of liquid and solid waste loads generated in the process? How is ZLD going to be evaluated and assessed in the absence of accurate data regarding the material balance of chemicals, solvents, water etc. used in the process, the end product produced, and the liquid effluents generated?

The process of achieving ZLD by reducing hydraulic load of waste water generated through upstream segregation, evaporation, recovery etc, will tend to increase solid waste. The total pollution load generated in the process continues to be the same whether in liquid or solid form.

The liquid, solid & air pollutants need to be attacked and minimised/ avoided at the very point of their generation in the production process that generates them and cannot be eliminated once they are generated.

There is a need for technological upgrading of the production equipment and the process to minimise both inputs of materials as well as energy and outputs of waste products & pollutants. This is the only way to bring down the total liquid, solid and air pollution loads in the process itself. The end-of-the-pipe treatment solutions, such as ZLD, can never lead to real pollution abatement. It only ends up in manipulation and dilution of pollution & accountability. Before opting for ZLD, the Consent for Establishment (CFE) of the industry should clearly specify the type and quantity of the product permitted per year, the stipulated energy & water consumption and liquid, solid and air pollution loads permitted per unit of product etc.

Without adequate systems, procedures & manpower in place to monitor regulate & control periodically, the ZLD will prove to be a disaster and a hoax.

The state of water bodies in and around Hyderabad is a testimony to the miserable failure of the present regime of industrial pollution control by the ill-equipped Pollution Control Board and its overbearing bosses.