~ 1 ~
The effect of waste dumping on water
quality in Pallikaranai
Wasting the Indian marshlands
By: Rita Sijelmass, 10198083 Date: June 27th, 2014 Education: Bèta Gamma / Earth Sciences Words: 12 727 words Supervisors: John Parsons, Maarten Bavinck
Abstract
The Pallikaranai marshland finds itself south of the city of Chennai. Because of rapid urbanization, the marsh has decreased in size. Since one of the main dumpsites of Chennai, the Perungudi dumpsite, is situated within the marshland, the waste dumping in the marshland has also increased rapidly since the urbanization of the city. With patches of the marshland being protected, it is prohibited to dump waste in certain areas. After surface water analysis on trace elements, the heavy metal concentrations are however higher in a protected area than in a non-protected area, implying an increase in contamination in the protected patches. The marshland has once been a source of fresh water for the local community in Thorapakamm, but with the increase in waste dumping they do not longer feel safe to use the water from the marsh for consumption. Other consequences that the community assumes are caused by the dumpsite, are an increase in smell, mosquitoes, diseases and soil contamination. The Chennai Corporation says it is aware of the implications, and works both on moving the dumpsite as well as removing the waste from the marshland.
Keywords
Chennai Corporation, dump site, heavy metal concentrations, marshland, Pallikaranai, Perungudi, Thorapakamm, water contamination
~ 2 ~
Index
Abstract ... 1 Keywords ... 1 Introduction ... 3 Method ... 8Retrieving water samples ... 8
Sample analysis ... 9
Societal impact ... 10
Comparing to existing data ... 11
Results ... 12
Water contamination ... 12
Gathering the water samples ... 12
Analysis of water samples ... 13
Local community ... 19
Quantitative research - questionnaires ... 19
Qualitative research - interviews ... 26
Chennai Corporation ... 33
Thoraipakkam Councillor (May 6th, Thoraipakkam) ... 33
The Mayor of Chennai Saidai Sa. Duraisamy (May 6th, Periyamet) ... 33
Discussion ... 35
Executing the research ... 35
Reviewing the results ... 36
Conclusion ... 41 Acknowledgement ... 42 Literature ... 43 Annexes ... 44 Annex 1 ... 44 Annex 2 ... 45 Annex 3 ... 46 Annex 4 ... 55
~ 3 ~
Introduction
Water scarcity is a world-wide phenomenon. Only 2.5 percent of earth’s total water supply is actually fresh water, and of that 2.5 percent only 1.2 percent is surface water – which serves life’s needs (Gleick, 1993). One of the sources and containers of available fresh water, is the Pallikaranai marshland in Tamil Nadu.
Being one of the few marshlands in Southern India, Pallikaranai finds itself in a unique position where it is the last area where a marshland-ecosystem can flourish. It is a vital accommodation for numerous bird and fish-species, which depend on the marshland its resources (Vencatesan, 2014).
The marshland finds itself just twenty kilometres below the Chennai city (see figure 1), but this distance decreases as the city keeps expanding. The city is challenging the marshland and its ecosystem, both in qualitative and quantitative ways. Quantitative since that the city is shrinking the size of the marshland, and qualitative since that a lot of the city its waste, sixty percent to be exact, is dumped in the marshland area. The city is using a part of the marshland as its dumpsite, named the Perungudi dumpsite. The area that this dumpsite occupies, has grown over time. Where it was 32 ha in the year 2000, this has grown to a 57 ha in 2001. The prediction is that this area will expand to a mere 80 ha in the near future. The amount of waste that is dumped there is 4000 kg a day of solid waste, together with 32 litres a day of liquid waste (Venkatachelam, 2014). It must be noted that these figures only portray the formal, legal dumping. There have been numerous reports of (toxic) waste being dumped in the marshland, yet there is no data available of how much waste this actually is (Vencatesan, 2014). The city is stressing the local environment in this way for over two decades, and the marshland is not secure of its existence in the near future (Jayaprakash et. al, 2009).
Figure 2. Lorries from the Chennai Corporation dumping their collected and untreated waste-water next to the Perungudi dumpsite
~ 4 ~
For various purposes, it is of crucial importance that the marshland will not deteriorate or disappear. One of those purposes, is the fresh-water storage that the marshland provides. The wetland is a transitional intertidal between land and brackish water, and both the surface- as groundwater is a source of drinking water for both humans and animals (Jayaprakash et. al, 2009). Also is it a storage for excessive rainfall in heavier periods like the one during the monsoon. It must be kept in mind that everything that happens with the water in the marshland will have consequences in a later stage in the hydrological system, in this case via the Buckingham Canal on the Bay of Bengal (Jayaprakash et. al, 2009) – the canal that connects the Pallikaranai marshland to the open waters east of the country. One of the most important service the marshland has provided, is being a source of fresh water. The Pallikaranai has once been the source of drinking water for the locals of Chennai, with pipelines connecting the households to the marshland. But because of the deterioration of the water, these pipes have been shut (Seifelislam, 2013). The water quality has worsened notably over the years: where the household first could use both the surface- and groundwater as a fresh water source, ten years later only the groundwater was qualified as being safe drinking water. Then, five years ago, also the groundwater was too contaminated for the households to be used as drinking water (Seifelislam, 2013).
The marshland was not only connected to various communities, to provide as a source of fresh water. Small anthropogenic tanks were once also linked to the marshland, which could save up extra water in times of excessive rainfall – mainly during the monsoon – and provide fresh water in return when there was a drought. They were not only an extra storage for fresh water, but also helped prevent flooding to occur. These tanks have also been cut off, since that the water from the marshland will only deteriorate the water from the tanks (Venkatachelam, 2014). Also, the volume of the marshland is reduced with the coming of the dumpsite due to the space it occupies and because of soil erosion. This has also caused flooding to be more extreme nowadays than they were in the past (Venkatachelam, 2014).
Now, the households still need a source of fresh water. That’s why there is water being distributed in tanks of water by the Chennai Corporation. Every household gets two barrels containing 105 litres of water a week, which should be free. However, the system does not work as properly as it should and the households end up having to pay at least 5 rupees a barrel (Seifelislam, 2013). So, because of the water pollution caused by the waste dumping, the local people do not have access to free drinking water any longer. The need for fresh water becomes even more apparent in the months April and May. The rain of the monsoon has not crossed Chennai yet, and because of high evaporation rates and a lack of rainfall fresh water is scarce.
~ 5 ~
Another consequence that is believed to have emerged from the dumping of waste, is the increase in mosquitoes and flies around the Pallikaranai marshland. It is believed that this increase comes from the waste laying around, even though this is not proven (Venkatachelam, 2014).
Within the Pallikaranai marshland, one can find the 200 ft-road which is crossing it east to west (see figure 3). Parts of the marsh that lie south of this road are protected by the Forest Department. The northern part of the marshland is not protected, since the Chennai Corporation already claimed that piece of land as theirs twenty years ago to dump their waste there (Vencatesan, 2014). On the patches where the marshland is protected, it is prohibited to dump any waste there or set foot on the premises without consent of the Forest Department.
The Perungudi dumpsite is located in a low lying area that is closest to the sea level. Because of this, and the poorly draining-system, the waste accumulates easily here. Furthermore, the dumpsite does not have a functioning lining that could prevent leachate migration towards the surrounding groundwater (Jayanthi et. al, 2012). This dumpsite is the biggest one that the Chennai Corporation owns, and thus is a big contributor to the water pollution in Pallikaranai.
One way to measure the water pollution, is to analyse the heavy metal concentrations of the water. A way to define water pollution, is: “…the amount of pollutants that the water body is not able to withstand.” (Jayanthi et al., 2012). Because the water samples were first planned to be analysed in the laboratory of Anna University, Chennai, an indicator of water contamination was needed of which an undergraduate needed little to no help of conducting the analysis. A heavy metal-analysis was best fitted for this scenario.
With heavy metals, adsorption must be kept in mind. Adsorption in a soil can take place with clay-minerals, (hydr)oxides and organic matter. The soil of the Pallikaranai marshland consists mostly of clay (Vencatesan, 2014), which is, on an atomic level, slightly negatively charged. Since metal-ions are positively charged, the ions tend to attach themselves to a soil if they get the chance. Also organic matter, which is also present within the marshland, has a negative charge and has the same effect on trace elements as a clay-soil. Oxides can be both positively and negatively charged, depending on the pH. With a higher pH, the oxides are more likely to attract positively charged trace elements. This means that if heavy metals enter a fresh water source they are rapidly removed from the water body and attach themselves to the sediments, causing the concentration of heavy metals in the surface water to decrease (Parsons, 2013).
According to Jayaprakesh et. al, these heavy metal concentrations have already increased by twenty to sixty percent for most elements compared to all other ecosystems in the world, and is the
~ 6 ~
region more heavily contaminated with the elements cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) compared to other regions in the southeast coast of India (2009). The high concentrations of these metals in the northern part of the marshland is said to be due to the dumping of waste, while the enrichment of metal concentrations in central Pallikaranai is mainly due to the circulation from upstream. Researches have also found that the concentrations are higher in the northern part of the marshland than in the southern part (Jayaprakash et. al, 2009). Being situated on a place where the hydrology is largely affected by the monsoon, the date of measurement must be taken into account when drawing conclusions on the marshland. The monsoon is a seasonal wind, which is the driving factor of the seasonal rainfall in India. In The south-east of India the rainy season is between June and September, while the dry period is between January and May (BBC Weather, 2007). The EC-content in the post-monsoon period is for example reduced thanks to the excessive rain entering the system. Since this research is conducted in the months of April and May, it is executed at the end of the dry season and the EC-content will be higher than in the post-monsoon scenario. In the study of Jayanthi et. al, the water samples taken from Pallikaranai exceeded the CPHEEO limit (2012). The CPHEEO is a measure of water quality, taking various features into account like colour, pH, and dissolved salts (Shivaraju et. al, 2011).
In this research, the aim is to investigate the water quality during the pre-monsoon period and to analyse the possible effects of the pollution of the marshland has on the consumers of its water. To define the quality (or pollution) of the drinking water, the limits of the World Health Organization will be used. Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) are for example heavy metals that are most known for their food poisoning, while other metals, like chromium (Cr), are essential elements for the human body. The concentrations needed by the body are, however, very low. When these concentrations are exceeded, these metals pose a danger for one’s health (World Health Organization, 2013).
Furthermore, it would be interesting to correlate the measured data to the possible consequences of the heavy metal pollution. Turning a marsh that is a vital habitat for numerous animal species (Vencatesan, 2014) into a wasteland, and contaminating a fresh-water source, may have tremendous effects on the communities surrounding the marshland. Next to that, members of the Chennai Corporation are used as a final source of information. What do they say of their waste-dumping? What are their possible solutions of the heavy metal contamination?
~ 7 ~ The research question this paper is aiming to answer, is:
What is the impact of the pollution on the local community at the Pallikaranai marshland, Chennai, caused by the Perungudi dumpsite during the Indian pre-monsoon period?
This research will be focussing on heavy metals, like iron, lead and chromium. The framework is the Pallikaranai marshland near the Perungudi dumpsite, during the pre-monsoon period.
The sub-questions, framing the research question, are:
- How does the Perungudi dumpsite increase the heavy metal concentrations in the Pallikaranai marshland?
- What is the impact of the water contamination on the local community near the Perungudi dumpsite at the Pallikaranai marshland?
~ 8 ~
Method
Retrieving water samples
To trace the metals and their development over the area, a total amount of six water samples are taken near the Perungudi dumpsite, and each sample has been taken twice. The first three samples have a fixed distance from the dumpsite, being respectively 130 metres, 260 metres and 500 metres away from the nearest point of the dumpsite, to have an indication how the heavy metal concentrations are related to the dumpsite. The fourth sample is taken on the other side of the 200ft road, with an approximate same radius as the mean of the first three samples. The part of the marshland which is south of the road is protected by the Forest Department, and it is prohibited to dump both solid and liquid waste here. If this is also practised, the heavy metal concentrations should be less in this part of the marshland. The fifth sample is taken in the most north-western point of the marshland. Here, sewage water is dumped into the
marshland which can give an increase in heavy metal concentrations. The sixth and last sample is taken in the north-east part of the marshland, on strong recommendations of Vencatesan. Even though she has no scientific background to support her theory, she believes that the neighbourhood surrounding this part of the marsh has been an industrial sector for a long time. Now most of these factories have been shut down and replaced by IT-corporations, but she still thinks that there are small scale paint-manufacturers that dump their waste there. Since paint has a high concentration in heavy metals, the water should also portray higher heavy metal concentrations in this part of the marsh if her theory is correct.
The points where the data is collected are marked with their coordinates, so that they can be mapped in a later stage of the research. For each sample, also the time and date are noted. The time-deviation is 2.5 minutes and the depths of the samples are at twenty centimetres, with a range of 10 centimetres. The amount of water taken is 1 litre per sample. Also, samples 1 to 5 were taken with the help of a ranger from the Forest Department of Chennai, since they would not allow samples to be taken otherwise.
~ 9 ~
It is important to note how the taken samples are retained and stored, since the water might react with the fabric of the container. First, the containers should be made of appropriate material to contain the water sample, this material could be either polypropylene or linear polyethylene with a polyethylene cap. Most importantly, the containers must be rinsed by acid before being used to make sure that there will not be any side reactions while the water is stored (American Public Health Association, 1999).
Next, the water is acidified immediately after sampling with concentrated nitric acid (HNO3) to pH < 2, and 1% of the acid is added to the sample. Since the water samples are 1 litre each, 10 mL of HNO3 is added. Usually, a 1.5 mL conc HNO3/L sample is sufficient for short-term preservation (American Public Health Association, 1999). The acid is added to make sure certain trace metals, like iron, will not oxidize. Since the air temperature is higher than the average room temperature (approximately around 30°C to 35°C), the samples are stored in a cool area as soon as possible to avoid evaporation.
The water is then filtered, to remove micro bacteria and other relatively large objects that might be existing in the water. The filter used is a GF/C filter, with a diameter of 47 mm. Only 500 mL of the each sample is filtered, and then stored again.
Lastly, the now filtered samples are evaporated until volumes are smaller than the size of 50 mL (1
10
⁄ th of the original volume). After evaporation the samples are filtered once more, because of possible crystallization, and distilled water is added until the volumes reach 50 mL each again. These samples are then brought back to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for analysis.
Sample analysis
The retrieved samples are examined on heavy metal concentrations. These metals are: iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr). This is done by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry, or in short ICP-OES, at the University of Amsterdam. The samples are analysed by technician Leendert de Lange.
Then, the retrieved data is compared with the limits of the World Health Organization’s Guidelines to Drinking-water Quality (2004). Here, the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) or daily tolerable intake (DTI) are given for every trace element in micrograms of the trace element per kilogram of bodyweight (µg / kg). Assuming an average Indian adult will weigh around 60 kg, a child weighs 30 kg, and having to consume 1.5 litres of water a day (LIC of India, date unkown), a maximum tolerable amount of the elements can be calculated.
~ 10 ~
Because the marshland is mostly inhabited by various bird-species, an extra limit is calculated. In this scenario, a big bird of 4 kg would ingest 1.5 litres of water a day. This can happen directly, by drinking the water, or indirectly by catching fish. Examples of big birds that inhabit the marshland are flamingos and pelicans (Vencatesan, 2014).
Some heavy metal concentrations are compared and analysed by using a double-sided t-test. Here, the sample which is believed to contain heavy metal-concentrations is named as X, and the sample that is believed to contain lower heavy metal-concentrations is named as Y. Setting the t-test its tail to the right, the hypotheses sound as follows:
H0: the mean of X is equal to or lower than the mean of Y HA: the mean of X is higher than the mean of Y
The alpha used, which decides where the null-hypothesis can be rejected, is 0.05 (or 5%).
Societal impact
The increase in heavy metal concentrations may have consequences on the local community, near the Perungudi dumpsite. To get an insight in these impacts, the inhabitants of the Thorapakamm-community are interviewed. They live within a range of 500 metres from the dumpsite, and belong to the lower classes of Chennai. Here, in-depth interviews are conducted. Questions are prepared before-hand, but being semi-structured interviews, the respondent had the possibility to bring up new information that was not known before and the freedom to divert the interview to a new, before unknown, direction. The choice of sampling is done to have a sample at least in every main street, to get a spread distribution. Furthermore, the only criteria were if the respondent was a) at home, b) willing to give us information, and c) aged at least eighteen years old.
Also a questionnaire is also taken, in both the Thorapakamm community as in the neighbouring Sri Sai Nagar. Here, not only the poorer community, but also people from higher classes are interviewed. The retrieved data is then computed in one great Excel-file so statistical analyses can be done with the help of MATLAB.
It must be noted that the research is done while the national elections were held. The voting day for the national election was on April 24th, in the midst of the research. Some respondents were therefore held back, out of fear that the given answers will have an effect on the political situation.
~ 11 ~
Comparing to existing data
Authorities, in this case the Chennai Corporation, are responsible for the dumping of the waste at this particular place. It is important to realize why they decided to situate the place at the Pallikaranai marshland, in what extent they believe the water is contaminated and what the impact is of the pollution by the waste dumping. Possibly they are already encountering the created problems, which would make it interesting to find out what their projects are to solve the issues regarding the dumpsite. To get these answers the councillor of the Thoraipakkam area, the area which is in charge of the Pallikaranai marshland, and the mayor of Chennai are interviewed.
~ 12 ~
Results
Water contamination
Gathering the water samples
The water samples are taken at May 5th, between 11:40 a.m. and 14:20 p.m. (see annex 2). It must be noted that there was an unusual fall of rain on the day before and the morning of sampling (see figure 4). In total, between May 1st and May 5th, the rainfall intensity was 12.5 mm higher than in the normal scenario. This extra input of water can give lower concentrations of measured trace metals than expected around this time of year. With the size of the marshland being 6.2 x 106 m2 (Vencatesan, 2014), the volume of the excessive rainfall is 7.75 x 103 m3.
With the marshland having an average volume of 9 x 106 m3 (Care Earth, date unknown), the excessive rainfall gives an increase of 0.086% of the volume of the marshland.
Figure 4. Daily rainfall of Chennai up until May 8th. The red line represents the expected rainfall (in mm), and the green bars show the actual rainfall (in mm). (IMD Chennai Government)
After evaporation, sample 4-I and sample 4-II show white crystallization. Since sample 4-I still contained some crystals after filtering, it is filtered twice.
~ 13 ~
Analysis of water samples
The metals analysed in the water are respectively iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr). The samples, all done in duplicate, give the results shown in table 1. The f
igures
shown are first divided by ten to illustrate the heavy metal-concentrations in the Pallikaranai marshland. The bottom row shows the preciseness of detection of the ICP-OES measurements, per type of trace metal.Table 2 shows the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) or tolerable daily intake (DTI), set by the World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2004). Table 3 presents how much an adult of around 60 kg and a child of around 30 kg could get in his body daily without being it hazardous, following the guidelines of the World Health Organization. The third column is a calculated limit for big birds of 4 kg.
Table 1. The trace metal concentrations found on the six sample-sites in Pallikaranai. The red figures show the exceeding limit an adult of 60 kg could ingest, if he would drink 1.5 litre a day from the sampled water. The figures that are green represent when a child of 30 kg would exceed the health limit set by WHO, if it would drink 1.5 litre. The purple figures show the exceeded concentrations for a big bird of 4 kg, if it’d consume 1.5 litres of water a day.
Sample Fe Mn Co Pb Cd Cr
µmol/ L
µg/L µmol/L µg/L µmol/ L
µg/L µmol/L µg/L µmol/L µg/L µmol /L µg/L 1-I 20.5 1144.70 4.11 225.92 0.040 2.32 0.045 9.40 0.0038 0.43 0.29 14.83 1-II 12.62 704.78 3.09 169.74 0.025 1.49 0.015 3.14 0.00079 0.089 0.16 8.16 2-I 18.2 1016.46 4.59 252.32 0.019 1.11 0.010 2.16 0.00077 0.087 0.13 7.013 2-II 19.7 1100.18 5.37 295.11 0.021 1.23 0.0094 1.94 0.00053 0.060 0.16 8.39 3-I 9.15 510.95 3.46 189.86 0.032 1.85 0.020 4.13 0.00078 0.087 0.086 4.49 3-II 5.94 331.61 3.11 171.07 0.023 1.33 0.018 3.74 0.0013 0.15 0.10 5.29 4-I 32.54 1817.23 35.89 1971.8 0.11 6.40 0.013 2.64 0.011 1.26 0.20 10.20 4-II 20.92 1168.23 29.54 1623.0 0.093 5.47 <0.0024 <0.50 0.011 1.20 0.23 11.74 5-I 7.15 399.06 5.25 288.20 0.016 0.93 0.021 4.24 0.0021 0.24 0.17 8.72 5-II 6.22 347.33 4.98 273.74 0.016 0.92 0.017 3.49 0.00076 0.086 0.19 9.77 6-I 74.37 4153.35 5.00 274.64 0.073 4.32 0.46 95.29 0.0066 0.74 0.22 11.82 6-II 58.98 3293.74 3.89 213.55 0.059 3.50 0.35 73.05 0.0062 0.70 0.18 9.46 detectio n (x 10-3) 0.63 30 0.14 10 0.8 47 2.4 500 000.2 22 1.2 60
~ 14 ~
For chromium, the WHO did not have any strict limits. Their statement about the trace element was: “The guideline value is designated as provisional because of uncertainties in the toxicological database. … The 1958 WHO International Standards for Drinking-water recommended a maximum allowable concentration of 0.05 mg/litre for chromium (hexavalent), based on health concerns.” (World Health Organization, 2004 – page 334 -335).
The limit of 0.05 mg / litre has not changed up until today. Even though the WHO has no fixed concentration of which it states that one is in a health risk, one can conclude that all six samples do not exceed the set limit. Since the maximum dose is not dependent on the amount of bodyweight one carries, this limit is applied in all three scenarios.
For cobalt, the World Health Organization hasn’t deducted when the concentration may become a health risk. Following Yamagata et. al, the average cobalt-concentration of a human body is 1.6 × 10-6 % of one’s weight. For an adult of 60 kg the average cobalt-concentration then is 0.96 milligrams, and for a child this is 0.48 milligrams. Suggesting the average bird contains the same heavy metal concentrations in its body, a bird of 4 kg would have 64 micrograms in its body without being contaminated (1962). All these three limits have not been reached.
Trace
metal
Tolerable intake
Daily intake (DTI) Weekly intake (PTWI) Iron 25 µg / kg bodyweight
Manganese 60 µg / kg bodyweight
Lead 25 µg / kg bodyweight
Cadmium 1 µg / kg bodyweight
Table 2. The limits set by the World Health Organization.
Trace metal Daily intake for adult of 60 kg
Daily intake for child of 30 kg
Daily intake for big bird of 4 kg
Iron 1 500 µg / day 750 µg / day 100 µg / day
Manganese 3 600 µg / day 1 800 µg / day 240 µg / day
Lead 214 µg / day 107 µg / day 14 µg / day
Cadmium 9 µg / day 4.5 µg / day 0.6 µg / day
Table 3. The calculated intake an adult of 60 kg and a child of 30 kg could ingest daily without having any health risks. In the third column, the estimated limit is calculated for a big bird of 4 kg.
~ 15 ~
Looking at table 1, it already becomes clear that the concentration of iron is the highest in all samples. This does not mean that the iron-concentrations in the samples are also the most
hazardous ones to humans. For this, an estimate of how much a person would drink daily is needed, together with a comparison with table 2. Following the Dutch Voedingscentrum, the daily intake of drinking fluids depends on certain factors, like age and gender, but for everyone at least 1.5 litres of fluid is needed to function properly (Voedingscentrum, 2014).
Figures 5 to 10 represent the data from table 1, showing the heavy metal concentrations on of each sample per trace element. Here the calculated limits from the World Health Organization are represented in red for adults, green for children, and purple for large birds. Chromium and cobalt do not have any limits portrayed in its bar graph.
Looking at the figures 5 to 10, one can see that only at sampling site 2, 4 and 6 the iron concentration for adults, other than that the adults would not be in danger after the consumption of 1.5 litres of water per day considering the other trace metals which are analysed.
For children, the iron concentrations are, next to the sites which are already hazardous for adults, also exceeded at sampling one of the samples of site 1, site 2 and at site 4. Next to iron, also manganese poses a threat for children at sample site 4. The other samples might only be hazardous for large birds, and not for humans.
Also interesting, is that the heavy metal concentrations of sample site 4 and sample site 6 seem to be higher than the heavy metal concentrations on other sites. Comparing certain concentrations with a double-sided t-test, the comparisons shown in table 4 show that sample site X had a significant higher heavy metal concentration than sample site Y:
~ 16 ~
X Y p-value
Iron at sample site 4 Iron at sample site 3 0.043 Iron at sample site 6 Iron at sample site 5 8.1 x 10-3
Manganese at sample site 4 Manganese at sample site 3 5.7 x 10-3
Lead at sample site 6 Lead at sample site 5 9.3 x 10-3
Cadmium at sample site 4 Cadmium at sample site 3 7.6 x 10-4
Cadmium at sample site 6 Cadmium at sample site 5 9.9 x 10-3
Cobalt at sample site 4 Cobalt at sample site 3 7.4 x 10-3
Cobalt at sample site 6 Cobalt at sample site 5 9.2 x 10-3
Table 4. Samples that had a significant difference in heavy metal concentrations of a certain trace element. Here, the following null-hypothesis (H0) is rejected: the mean of X is equal to or lower than the mean of Y.
Thus, is there a significant increase in heavy metal-concentration if one would compare the trace elements iron, manganese, cadmium, and cobalt of sample site 4 with the trace elements of sample site 3. Here, sample site 4 finds itself in one of the protected areas of the marshland, while sample site 3 is just across the road but in a non-protected area.
Also, there is a significant difference of trace elements of sample site 5 and sample site 6. The concentrations of iron, lead, cadmium and cobalt are significantly higher at sample site 6 than the concentrations at sample site 5. Here, sample site 5 is at the south-west of the marshland, while sample-site 6 is located in the most south-eastern part of the marsh. Both samples are roughly equally distanced from the dumpsite, being it respectively 700 meters for sample site 5 and 800 meters for sample site 6. One of the differences Vencatesan has mentioned, however, is that near sample site 6 there has been a strong industrialized community that harboured numerous paint factories. While most of the industries are now replaced by the IT-sector, there still are some small-scale paint-shops that dump their waste, which consists mostly of paint, in the marshland (2014). Cadmium and lead are also known to be included in most paints, but the exact concentrations of heavy metals depend on the type and brand of paint that is used (Greimel et. al, 2013).
~ 17 ~
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
1-I 1-II 2-I 2-II 3-I 3-II 4-I 4-II 5-I 5-II 6-I 6-II
Iron (Fe) in µg/L
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 35001-I 1-II 2-I 2-II 3-I 3-II 4-I 4-II 5-I 5-II 6-I 6-II
Manganese (Mn) in µg/L
0 50 100 150 2001-I 1-II 2-I 2-II 3-I 3-II 4-I 4-II 5-I 5-II 6-I 6-II
Lead (Pb) in µg/L
Figure 5. The iron-concentrations of sites 1 to 6. The red line represents the exceeding limit for adults of 60 kg, and the green line represents the exceeding limit for children of 30 kg, considering they’d consume 1.5 litres of water a day.
Figure 6. The manganese-concentrations of sites 1 to 6. The red line represents the exceeding limit for adults of 60 kg, and the green line represents the exceeding limit for children of 30 kg, considering they’d consume 1.5 litres of water a day.
Figure 7. The lead-concentrations of sites 1 to 6. The red line represents the exceeding limit for adults of 60 kg, and the green line represents the exceeding limit for children of 30 kg, considering they’d consume 1.5 litres of water a day.
~ 18 ~ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1-I 1-II 2-I 2-II 3-I 3-II 4-I 4-II 5-I 5-II 6-I 6-II
Cobalt (Co) in µg/L
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101-I 1-II 2-I 2-II 3-I 3-II 4-I 4-II 5-I 5-II 6-I 6-II
Cadmium (Cd) in µg/L
0 5 10 15 20 251-I 1-II 2-I 2-II 3-I 3-II 4-I 4-II 5-I 5-II 6-I 6-II
Chromium (Cr) in µg/L
Figure 8. The cadmium-concentrations of sites 1 to 6. The red line represents the exceeding limit for adults of 60 kg, and the green line represents the exceeding limit for children of 30 kg, considering they’d consume 1.5 litres of water a day.
Figure 9. The chromium-concentrations of sites 1 to 6. No lines are indicated, since that they are not exceeded.
~ 19 ~
Local community
Both quantitative as well as qualitative research has been done on a community nearby the dumpsite, to portray the effects of the waste-dumping on the people that live closest to the area. For the quantitative research, a bigger sampling group has been chosen than for the qualitative research.
Quantitative research - questionnaires
For the acquiring of the quantitative data, questionnaires have been handed out to local inhabitants of the area which has been mapped out in annex 1.
First, the background-data of the sample group is analysed. Table 3, figure 5 and figure 6 show the background data from the complete sampling group.
No. of interviewees 63
Mean distance of households from marshland 0.5627 km
Mean age of interviewee 41.9 years (from 12 to 69 years) Skewness of gender (Male / Female) 0.44 men / 0.56 women
Mean time living in the area 16.2 years (from 2 to 55 years) Mean time living in the same house 12.3 years (from 0.1 to 35 years) Table 3. Background data from the sample group.
Waste dumping
From the sixty three people interviewed, twenty four say that they separate waste. This means that 38% of the total sampling group separate their waste in one way or another. In this group, only 2 have Figure 5. Background data from sample group: level of income Figure 6. Background data from sample group: education
~ 20 ~
affirmed to separate metals. This means that of the people that separate waste, only a fraction of 0. 1429 separate metals (or 14.29%). Of the total sampling group, this yields a percentage of 3.17%.
Plastics have been more popular to separate. Twelve people have claimed to separate their plastic waste from their other waste, which is 85.71% of the people that separate waste, and 19.05% of the total sampling group. How popular certain waste separations are, is represented in figures 7 and 8. The percentages do not align with the percentages given above, since there are respondents that use different types of waste separation. If more answers are given, the multiple answers are incorporated in the figure.
Problems by the dumpsite
Stating the problems: now and in the past
The sample group is also asked if there are any problems that have occurred since the dumpsite has originated, and whether they believe these problems are also originated by it. All interviewees affirmed an increase of problems. The types of problems have been recorded and portrayed in figure 9.
It must be noted that when people complained about the smell, the smell from the dumpsite is meant. The intensity of the smell is increased during rainy seasons, or when the waste is being burned (which is illegal, but recipients noted that this happens regularly). Also, with the problem ‘diseases’, is made a distinction between diseases one might get unrelated to the dumpsite (like an occasional cold) and the diseases one might get because of the dumpsite (by e.g. using contaminated water). The problem ‘noise’ is also related to the dumpsite. This is because here, noise is specified on the noise lorries make driving to and from the dumpsite, and doing the actual dumping.
~ 21 ~
The interviewees have been asked if they had any problems caused by the dumpsite when M. G. Ramachandran, or in short “MGR”, was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. This data is represented in figure 10.
MGR was the Chief Minister up until his death in 1987. His fame in Tamil Nadu makes his death an effective point in time (around 25 years ago) where people can compare their living conditions with. It must be noted that not everyone was living in the research area around 1987. If that is the case, they are asked to compare their living conditions with the first year that they were living here. If they have moved to this area earlier than 15 years ago, they are removed from the data. At the end, there are 33 interviewees that are used in the second time-variable. If there will be referred to ‘the past’, from now on the period between MGR’s death and 15 years ago is meant.
~ 22 ~
It must be noted that the percentages given, both in figure 9 and 10, are not the percentages of people affirming these problems are present. It is in fact the amount of times when a certain problem is mentioned, divided by the total amount of problems mentioned. Because one person can mention more issues regarding the dumpsite, the data given in figure 8 and 9 do not directly represent the amount of people that confirm a certain issue. The actual percentage of people claiming to have problems with their water quality nowadays is 87.30 %, while the percentage of the past is 24.24%. For soil contamination, the percentage of people having an issue with it is 30.16%, while in the past this was 6.06%.
What is most interesting for this research, are the problems considering water quality and soil contamination. To compare the living conditions over a period of time, a two-sampled t-test is conducted for both parameters.
Comparing the parameter of water quality in the present with the water quality in the past, which is between 15 and 25 years, it is shown that people claim that the water quality is significantly worse nowadays than it was in the past (with a p-value of 2.9 x 10-12).
The soil contamination also shows a significant change. The soil contamination has increased since MGR’s death, or at least in the last 15 years (with a p-value of 3.2 x 10-3).
~ 23 ~
People were also asked if people encountered serious problems with mosquitoes. To that answer, all of the interviewees (100%) agreed that the mosquitoes are a major issue. When asked if they had such issues in the past, for at least 15 years ago, 60.61% affirmed that mosquitoes were a big concern. Comparing this data, a double t-test shows that there is a significant increase in people having mosquito-problems over time (p-value of 4.11 x 10-9).
Most reported diseases are related to mosquitoes, like malaria, dengue and chikungunya. That’s why also the amount of people that reported having related diseases have been counted, both in the present as the people that reported having these problems in the past. As it turns out, there is a significant increase of diseases reported (with a p-value of 4.99 x 10-4), comparing the present with 15 years ago.
Now it has also been asked if and, if so, how the people dealt with the problems they were facing. One of these solutions, for a deterioration in water quality, is to buy bottled water. The inhabitants have the possibility to buy cans of 25 litres that cost 35 rupees each. It is asked how many people nowadays feel the need to buy bottled water. Also they are asked if they felt the need to do so in the past. Apparently, there has been a significant increase in bottled water-usage since 15 years (with a p-value of 2.5 x 10-6).
The significant changes in living conditions have been shown in figures 11 and 12. The bars show a fraction of the people agreeing on the statement divided by the total sample size (which differs between the variable of time). In the case of the first parameters, the water quality and the soil contamination, it shows the amount of people that affirm that living conditions have been worsened in a certain time period. For the parameter of bottled water, the people that are forced to purchase mineral water are noted.
~ 24 ~
Figure 11. Comparing the living conditions: water quality, soil contamination and mineral water purchase between the present and the past. All three parameters show a significant increase, over a time-period of 15 years.
Figure 12. Comparing living conditions: mosquitoes and diseases between the present and the past. Both parameters show a significant increase, over a time-period of 15 years.
~ 25 ~
Worsening of the area
From the people have been living in the area for at least 15 years, 72.73% claimed that the Pallikaranai-area has worsened over time because of the dumpsite.
Also almost half of the people interviewed (47.62%) would move away from the dumpsite, if they were given the opportunity. Reasons why they would not move, are mainly because:
- they have family living in the neighbourhood that they couldn’t or didn’t want to leave. - the close amenities to the city, for a price they could afford
they felt bond to the place by being born here
Furthermore, the respondents were asked if they felt like they had to adapt to the environmental changes, which have been caused by the dumpsite. If so, the respondents could choose for several options why they felt they had to adapt. The interviewees that have lived in the area for at least 15 years, are taken into account.
As it turns out, 81.82% of the respondents do believe that they had to adapt one way or another with the coming of the Perungudi dumpsite, compared to 15 years ago. Of this percentage, 57.58% believed that they had to adapt because they felt like their health was at risk. The percentages can be found back in figure 13.
Figure 13. The percentages of people that felt like they had to adapt, and have been living here at least 15 years.
~ 26 ~
Qualitative research - interviews
The local community from Thorapakamm is chosen because they are nearby the dumpsite (within 500 metres) and the majority of the community does not have the comforts that most middle-class people have. The map of the area, and the points where the interviews have been taken, can be seen in annex 1. Note that for the qualitative research, only the community above Sri Sai Nagar is used as sampling group.
The community consists of houses that are made mostly of concrete, although there still are a few ones that consist of palm leaves and wood. The roads are hardened but not smoothened, and garbage can be found on the streets or piled up in corners. Next to the bare land, at the end of the street, there is a constant pile of plastic which belongs to the neighbouring shop. Between the dump site and the neighbourhood there is a wall. This wall, however, is not completely closed. Next to the plastic shop, there is a hole in the wall where one could access the dump site. This is prohibited, but it is believed to be used regularly as an illegal entrance by individuals for various reasons.
Figure 14. Selvaganapathi Avenue, 1st main road
Figure 15 (left-top). The buildings of Sri Sai Nagar, which are the apartments in a pricier price-range than the buildings of the Thorapakamm-community.
Figure 16 (right-top). A house from the Thorapakamm community. The buildings are all poorer-built.
Figure 17 (left-bottom). A house from Thorapakamm that is not built with concrete, but consists mostly of banana-leaves.
~ 27 ~ Interview 1 – April 17th at Thorapakamm, Perungudi
The first interview is with an elderly woman who has been living for 30 years on Selvaganapathi Avenue, 1st main road. The house that she has, which is made of concrete, is only 10 years old. Before that she has been living in a hut made of palm leaves. She used to have a job in a plastic factory, but now is retired.
With the dumpsite being only 200 metres away, the consequences of the dump has had a lot of influence on her life. The first aspect that comes to mind, is the diseases that she claims it brings with it. With the upcoming of the dump site, she tells that the incidents of fevers, including brain fever,
malaria, dengue and chikungunya have increased significantly. She explains that the cases of malaria, dengue and chikungunya are so severe here, because of the increase of mosquitoes that are complementary with the dump site. She even claims that dengue is originated from this area, and that chikungunya is present in this area since 5 years. Also the smells are a big problem.
She is getting her water from a desalination plant, a governmental factory that desalinizes sea-water and distributes the fresh sea-water over the city. Also does she have a well in her house, where she can get ground-water if the water scarcity is higher. This water is safe to use for washing clothes, or cleaning the house, but will not do as drinking water. For the consumption and cooking, she has to buy mineral water. This is, she finds, really expensive – one big bottle of two litres costs her 35 rupees, or 45 eurocents. She did not always have to buy mineral water, but since the dump site has polluted the marshland, and therefore also the groundwater, she does not feel safe using the tap water directly. This does mean, however, that there are extra expenses that do not fit in her budget.
When the question was proposed if she knew anything about the waste-dumping, she did. The lorries of Chennai Corporation that transport solid and liquid waste work mostly in the day time, and about forty lorries a day come to the marsh to dump their load there. She knows that the councillor of Perungudi collects 1000 rupees, or 12 euros, for that for each lorry. Her statement is that he makes a lot of money with the waste dumping, and therefore makes no haste of stopping it.
But there is also waste dumped at night. This is done illegally, but she does not know by whom. Also is burning of waste practiced, around 4 to 6 in the morning, which causes an unpleasant smell and she believes it is also harmful to the body. She however is not certain if it’s prohibited to do so. At the moment, she mentions the burning of waste has actually stopped. But this is only temporary, since it
~ 28 ~
has stopped just because the elections are approaching1. As soon as the elections are over, she says, the burning will continue once again. Also, the neighbourhood has been cleaned up just before the elections. This could be coincidental she says, but this has not happened in a long time so she doubts if there is another reason behind it.
To counter the problems she is facing, there is a lot of waste scamming. With waste scamming, the waste is separated and recycled in a non-organized manner and helps to reduce the waste production and the negative consequences that come with it. Other than that, she says that there is little that she can do. She actually visited the councillor of Perungudi on the day of the interview, but she does not feel like it will make a difference. They have promised to make a list of households who will be getting a mosquito-net, but so far no one has received anything yet. This has been two years ago. Also did the community of Thorapakamm have a strike to stop the lorries from dumping waste, but also this protest did not seem to have an effect. She even states that as soon as the elections are over, there will be more lorries coming by to dump waste.
She states that the last three years of living here have become the worst years. Since the councillor, a member of the political party ADMK, gained power, he claimed the entire waste management as private property and started to collect the profit from the lorries. ADMK is, before the elections, the ruling party. She feels that if this party gets re-elected, there will not be any use to show their frustration much longer. That’s why she feels powerless over the situation.
Interview 2 – April 25th, Thorapakamm, Perungudi
The second interviewee is a man in his thirties who is working for 10 years separating plastic in the neighbourhood. His job, and task of the company that he works for, is not to cull the plastic in the neighbourhood themselves but rather collect it from companies that separate their plastic or from individual so-called “plastic pickers” that look for plastic on the streets or – illegally - on the dumpsite and hand it to the company. The workers of the
1 The voting day for the national election was on April 24th
Figure 19. The site where the plastic is being gathered and separated into different groups
~ 29 ~
sorting company, localised within Thorapakamm (for specific position, see annex 1), all live, eat and sleep in the building for as long as they work there.
The workers do use well water, but only as cleaning, washing and bathing water. The water they use for cooking comes from the panchayat2, which is brought in by lorries. The drinking water is, however, bought in cans since they do not trust the quality of the ground- or panchayat water. One can contains 25 litres and costs 35 rupees each. They use this water for their pets as well.
When the interviewee arrived here ten years ago, the water quality was very different. He wasn’t as afraid to use the ground-water for hygienic and consuming purposes, while now he sometimes refuses to take a bath because of the water quality. Occasionally, the water from the tap even has a reddish or yellowish colour. Considering sanitation and sewage, the workers do not have a toilet. That’s why they have to go to nearby homes to ask if they can use the bathroom there.
They do not go on the dumpsite themselves, even though they do know the stories of individual pickers and lorry drivers that do get there. The individuals that collect the plastic, mostly indigenous people, are often known to smoke cigarettes on the dumpsite. They throw their cigarette butts on the trash causing small to medium sized fires. This happens a lot, and if the fire is somewhat bigger the smell is bad as well. The people working in the shop treat the individual pickers very harsh, since that they believe that is the only way they can communicate with them.
The plastic separators can earn around 700 to 1000 rupees a day, depending on how long their workday is. They feel safe working and living here. They’re mostly content about their status, since they are not the ones that have to get on the dumpsite. There are also women working in the shop, they mostly separate the plastic in different categories and do chores that require less physical strength.
Regarding the dumpsite, there are some negative pointers the workers have. Their biggest problem is the water quality, as mentioned. The boss is obliged to buy mineral water, which wouldn’t be necessary if the groundwater wasn’t contaminated. Other than that, is the smell a big problem as well. This gets worse during the rainy season. Also mosquitoes are a big problem. They’ve heard the stories that dengue was originated here, and they find it very plausible. Other than that, is flooding very common. The bare land (also shown on the map, on annex 1) gets flooded as soon as the monsoon is bringing the rain in Tamil Nadu. The flooding has increased since he started living here ten years ago, and the flooding brings a lot of waste water in the streets.
~ 30 ~ Interview 3 – April 25th, Thorapakamm, Perungudi
The third interviewee is a male shopkeeper who has been running his shop for 13 years on Selvaganapathi Avenue 2nd main road. It’s a small shop that he owns, of about four square metres, and four more square metres behind the shopping-area where he has a mattress laid down. He has been living in the shop since he has moved to this neighbourhood, and has been a shopkeeper his whole life.
His sources of water differ depending on where he uses it for. His washing and cleaning water is well water, or ground-water coming from the Pallikaranai marshland. If this well-water is dried up, panchayat water is used instead. For cooking, he also uses the water from the government. As drinking water, he has to purchase mineral water. Even though it is a disappointment that he can’t use well-water to use for his consumption, he finds himself lucky. Because he owns a shop, it’s easier and cheaper for him to get mineral water than for the regular customer.
He finds the dumpsite a major issue. He has reported this to the councillor, signed petitions and individually talked to the chief, but up until this point he hasn’t seen any changes. One of the problems that he regularly faces is the smell, which is extreme, but he can’t do anything about it. He can’t close any door, because he lives in the shop. The little house has to stay open, otherwise people won’t be able to purchase anything at his store. Also has he regularly seen that waste is getting burned. This can both be caused by people – anthropogenic – or naturally, by the intense heat. He feels powerless, since all he can do is note his observations at the councillor. The shopkeeper doesn’t believe his notification will do any good.
Interview 4 – April 25th, Thorapakamm, Perungudi
The fourth interview is with an elderly couple, who have been living on the same spot for fifteen years at Selvaganapathi Avenue 1st main road. They live in a concrete building that they have built themselves, with a household of six people. Other than themselves, also their two children live in the house, one with his wife and one grandchild.
Their source of water too depends on their way of usage. Their washing and cleaning water comes from the well, thus is groundwater. They believe that the water that they’re extracting is of decent quality, since it is not saline. They do not trust it, however, to use it for hygienic or consuming purposes. The water that they are using to cook, is panchayat water. Finally is their drinking water mineral water, bought in cans of 20 litres. On average, they have to pay 900 rupees a month for the mineral water, which is a huge expense for them.
~ 31 ~
Their waste is being collected by the Chennai Corporation. They do not separate the waste by themselves, but do believe that the Chennai Corporation takes care of that. The dumpsite is causing a lot of difficulties for the couple. Smell is one of their biggest, together with the smoke that comes off when the waste is being burned. They have reported this to the councillor and the MLA (the Member of Legislation), but there hasn’t been any reaction. Also is there no proper drainage. This is a major issue especially when it rains, or when the flooding comes, since the (waste-) water will stagnate over the streets and cause a lot of smell also. To get the waste water removed by a lorry, costs around 900 rupees a month.
Mosquitoes are also a big problem. The government is however tackling this, by hiring vans that expel smoke against the mosquitoes. They think that also this chemical substance can’t be good for them to breathe in, but they prefer it over the continuous mosquito-bites and the diseases that come with it. They have experienced a lot of these diseases themselves since they live here, practically everyone that has been living here. It mostly starts with joint pains at the places where they have been bitten by the mosquitoes. In the last years, dengue has been a huge problem in particular. To treat these diseases they go to a private hospital, even though the public hospital is for free. They have reported all of this to the corporation, and now the government sends some experts when the local community is complaining about a disease breaking out.
They are certain that the marshland has deteriorated over time. In the past, when they just started living here, there were people from all over the city that came over to collect fresh water from the marsh. Now, no one dares to use that water any more. But, despite all this, they won’t move away from this place since they built this house and their friends and family live here. If they left, they would feel chased away. And after all, they aren’t the ones that should leave – it is the situation that has to get better.
Interview 5 – April 25th, Thorapakamm, Perungudi
The fifth and final interview is held with a woman that has been living at Selvaganapathi Avenue 2nd cross street for fifteen years. She lives in a concrete house which belongs to one of the bigger houses of the community, but does not own the complete building. She works as a maid at other people’s homes. The sewage-system that she has is an open sewage system, where the waste water flows in little trenches on both sides of the streets (see figure 21).
Figure 20. The fifth interviewee with her grandchild.
~ 32 ~ Like all other interviewees, she gets her water
from different sources. The cooking, washing and cleaning water comes from the corporation. If the water scarcity is very high, she sometimes decides to clean and wash with well-water, but doesn’t feel safe doing so. Her drinking water is mineral water, which comes in cans of 25 litres and cost 35 rupees each. Furthermore, she does not separate her waste. Even waste that contain (trace) metals, like paint, are all thrown into one dustbin.
She has a lot of complaints regarding the dumpsite. To start with, there is a lot of waste laying around. This has also been the case when she just moved here, but the mess has gotten worse over time. The smell is also a big issue, especially during the rainy season. Also the smell has increased over the years. She believes that the smell comes from the dump yard itself, from the open sewage, and from the burning of waste that is done on the dump site.
Flooding is another issue that troubles her. During these floods, rain- and waste water will get mixed up and flow over the streets. This happens occasionally she says, especially during the rainy season.
There are occasions where people from the corporation will come to the neighbourhood to have an inspection. They then hear the complaints of the community, but no actions have been taken to resolve any of them. She has also made her complaints to the corporation, but doesn’t believe that anything will be done with her notifications. She is sceptic about the future: since the dumpsite has been here for so long, she doesn’t believe that anything can be done to remove all the consequences that the waste has caused.
She concludes the conversation by saying that she would never move away from here, even if she had the possibility. This is because there is a government project, the government housing at Kannagi Nagar and Chemmenchiri, where she then would be placed. Now she is fortunate enough to have a big house that doesn’t cost much. If she’d move to the new site, she’d end up in a place filled with alcoholics and violence. That’s why she endures the harsh conditions the dumpsite has brought here.
Figure 21. The open sewage system which is the main system of liquid waste disposal in Thorapakamm.
~ 33 ~
Chennai Corporation
Thoraipakkam Councillor (May 6th, Thoraipakkam)
The councillor of the area that the Pallikaranai marshland is placed in, Thoraipakkam, has been a ward member of the leading political party AIADMK for 15 years. He is born and raised here in Thoraipakkam, and claims to only want the best for his community.
He knows about certain plans regarding the future of the dumpsite. A lot of complaints have reached him and his party, and he knows something must be done. For instance, there is a project where the dumping of waste will be shifted towards the north of Chennai. From that moment on, starting next year, the dumping in the Pallikaranai marshland will stop. The chief minister herself, leading member of AIADMK Jayalithaa Jayaram, is fighting for this project for at least 1.5 years. During this time, she has done an environmental assessment of the new area, checking parameters like the predicted soil and air contamination. The dumpsite in Pallikaranai will then be transformed into a recreational park. This is believed to be done in two years.
As an individual, the councillor cannot make major changes. Together with AIADMK, he does whatever lies in his power to alter the situation for the better. An example is the water they are distributing over Thorapakamm and Sri Sai Nagar, and the vans they drive around occasionally, which spreads smoke to expel the mosquitoes. Before this party was ruling, three years ago, the political party DMK was the leading party. There were a lot more complaints and petitions regarding the dumpsite back then. When AIADMK started ruling, the chief minister of AIADMK proposed to move the dumpsite towards the north. The community then toned down their protests.
The Mayor of Chennai Saidai Sa. Duraisamy (May 6th, Periyamet)
Saidai Sa. Duraisamy, the mayor of Chennai since 2011, is the one that has the final say in what projects will be finalized, and which will be discarded, regarding the Pallikaranai marshland. He says that the Pallikaranai marshland now has fixed borders, which means that the marsh will not shrink inthe future due to the upcoming urbanization. If the population increases, as is expected, only the areas surrounding the marshland will densify.
Since 26 months, there are three running projects regarding the dumpsite. The first is to remove the waste that is already present at the
Perungudi dumpsite. Here, all the waste that has been dumped in the marshland for the last twenty five years will physically be removed and placed elsewhere.
Figure 22. Saidai Sa. Duraisamy, the mayor of Chennai
~ 34 ~
The second project is to find a new dumpsite, and transport all the old waste to the new site. It must be noted that this is a very delicate project, since there are numerous protestors at every location that seems fit as a new dump site. The estimation is that this project will be done in another eighteen months.
The third and last project is a relative new one, where raw materials from the dumpsite will be converted into electricity and thereby be recycled. The prior aim of this project is to prevent the amount of waste of the dumpsite getting larger, with the possibility of maybe even shrinking the size of the dumpsite in the future. Since this project is not announced yet to the public, the mayor cannot go into further detail.
He blames the whole situation on the previous government, when he wasn’t a mayor yet. They have treated the area as a wasteland instead of a marshland. But even after this period, he believes there is hope for the marshland. If handled with good care from now on, the marshland can recover and get rid of the contamination. He mentions the southern part of the Pallikaranai marshland as an example. This is a patch of marshland which is protected and thus no waste dumping is allowed there. He believes that the water quality here is significantly better than the water quality of the unprotected area. About the protected area, he says:
“At the protected part of the marshland, birds are still coming and even more species are
arriving. Which shows that the water is not hazardous there.”
(Saidai Sa. Duraisamy, mayor of Chennai)
The plan is to remove the waste at Perungudi entirely. He acknowledges that this won’t be easy, but the plan is that after four years all the waste is removed from the northern part of the Pallikaranai marshland. Then, he thinks, the water will recharge itself over time and one day be useful as drinking water again.
~ 35 ~
Discussion
Executing the research
First of all, there was a challenge to prepare for a research that would be conducted almost 8000 kilometres away, and is not yet witnessed beforehand. Certain factors have been taken into account that were in reality not at all present, while others played a major role in the research area but were unforeseen during preparations.
Next to that, all of the interviews have been done with the help of a translator. Even though the translator was very professional in his work, miscommunications can have occurred because of the difference in languages and a third person being involved in the conversation. It is both possible that the interviewed people have misinterpreted the questions, as well as that the answer to the question has been altered when it was translated back into English. It is assumed, however, that over all misconceptions are small.
Also the sampling of the water must be taken into account. Most of the samples have been taken by a ranger, who was unaware of the complete aim of the research. Because of this, and of the danger and difficulty of physically taking the samples, it was not possible to also take a pH- and EC-analysis on every sample site. Apart from that, coordinates were measured for each sample. When converting them in the computer, they were not representing the correct locations. That is why the precise locations of the samples have not been shown in the results. And finally, it has also rained on the day of sampling. This is unusual for the time of the year, but it may have had an effect on the trace-metal concentrations of the samples taken later on the day.
The samples should be analysed immediately after withdrawing them from the marshland, which should have be done at the Ocean Management department of Anna University. The AAS they had was, however, under construction. Therefore the samples had to be filtered, evaporated to a volume of 50 mL and brought back to The Netherlands.
The volumes weren’t measured precisely since the evaporation-process did not show a steady decline in water-volume. The volumes have a deviation of ± 5 mL and this might explain why the sample duplicates do not have the same trace-metal concentrations.
~ 36 ~
Reviewing the results
How does the Perungudi dumpsite increase the heavy metal concentrations in the Pallikaranai marshland?
To start with, it becomes clear that the iron-concentrations will not serve a threat to an adult, after the consumption of 1.5 litres of water, on all sampling sites. Only sample site 6 is exceeding the limit set by the WHO, together with one of the samples taken at sample site 4. Other than that, an adult would not have any health-implications regarding the other five trace-elements analysed.
For a child of 30 kg, the exceeding limit is already halved. Considering that a child would consume 1.5 litres of the water from the marsh, not only sample site 6 and sample site 4 pose a threat but also the iron-concentrations are too high at sample site 1 and sample site 2. The manganese-concentration would solely be exceeded at sample site 4, and the lead-manganese-concentration may pose a threat at sample site 6.
Other than that, also big birds are taken into consideration. The marshland is a vital habitat for numerous species, with the most common big bird being the flamingo. Assuming the consumption of water is 1.5 litres a day, which can be both be ingested directly by drinking the water as indirectly by catching fish, another health-limit is set for birds of 4 kg. The iron-concentrations are exceeding the health-limit for a big bird at every sample-site, as is the manganese-concentration for birds at sample site 2, sample site 4, sample site 5 and one of the samples at sample site 6. Besides that, the cadmium-concentration is too high at sample site 4 and sample site 6, and the lead-cadmium-concentration also exceeds the health-limit at sample site 6.
It must be noted that the samples taken are surface-water samples, while trace metals tend to attach themselves to the soil. In this way, they can contribute to the groundwater contamination but cannot be detected when analysing the surface water. This is why it cannot be concluded that the proposed data of the trace elements is in fact the actual contamination. One can only be certain for which trace metals the concentrations did exceed the limit the World Health Organization has put up, we cannot exclude that concentrations of heavy metals in the marshland are actually higher than presented by the data.
Also there are still other heavy metals that have not been analysed, together with other compounds that may have a polluting effect on the marshland like organic matter or toxic waste. Further research is needed to include or exclude these factors as contamination on the Pallikaranai marshland.
