Fresh directions issued to look into leachate in drains
TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: There’s more trouble brewing for Fomento Green on the Sonsodo waste treatment front.
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued fresh directions to the company under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and has point blank told Fomento that its application for Consent to Operate the treatment plant will be processed only if the company complies with the Board’s directions.
In the latest directions, the GSPCB has maintained that leachate generated from the old solid waste dumps at the site was flowing in the storm water drains, adding that the leachate collecting system of the old dump was not functional.
The Board has reminded Fomento that conditions of the consent to establish issued on December 5, 2012, clearly stipulate that care should be taken to ensure that the inert material do not give rise to leachate which may percolate into ground water or carried away with storm run-off. “Inspection conducted by the Board officials has observed that the unit has failed to comply with the conditions,” said GSPCB Member Secretary Levinson Martins.
He said the Board officials have observed that Fomento has not maintained details of the compost generated at the plant. “The landfill site is required to be planned and designed with proper documentation of a phased construction plan as well as closure plan, but the same has not commenced till date,” he said, adding that proper segregation of the waste into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable is not carried out.
Replying to a question, Martins said that the ball now lies in the court of Fomento Green to comply with the Board’s directions.
