While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation took immediate tentative measures like installing vents to deal with methane pollutants at Deonar dumping ground, it will take up to two years to deal with
While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation took immediate tentative measures like installing vents to deal with methane pollutants at Deonar dumping ground, it will take up to two years to deal with the problem of leachate leaking out of the garbage and polluting the adjacent Thane creek, official sources said. The solution will be part of the long-term measures undertaken by the civic body to deal with garbage at the dump.
A report by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) last month had pointed out that one of the major concerns from the landfill was leachate polluting the ground water and Thane Creek. Leachate is the liquid that drains or ‘leaches’ from a landfill.
Officials of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department said these measures will be in place as soon as success is seen at the Mulund dump, which is in the process of closing down with scientific techniques. It will replicate these measures at Deonar dump.
Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said, “The IIT and NEERI, which have been researching on ways to scientifically close down the Deonar dumping ground will present a solution to deal with the leachate; it will take some time to put these measures in place.”
Sources said, “Tubes need to be put in to the garbage to channelise the leachate to collection points, but that is impossible on close to 30 feet high garbage mounds at Deonar.”
Officials from the SWM department said these precautions have already been taken in the case of new dumping grounds. For example, at Kanjurmarg, the BMC has spread out alternating layers of thick sheets and cobbled stones. This bed of about three metres in height acts as padding between the ground and the garbage, for leachate flowing out in rivulets.
However, according to sources, these measures are easier to adapt when they are in place right from the birth of the dumping ground.
“The garbage at Deonar dates back to the 1920s when the dumping ground was commissioned, and no one thought about these precautions then,” an official said.
