Visit To A Local Polluted Site

Mumbai is an enormous bustling metropolis with an intense population density. It is the

most populous city in India, and the second most populous city in the world, with a
population of approximately 14 million. Along with the neighboring urban areas, including
the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the
world. This colossal population lives, works and generates thrash. Lots of thrash.

In the colonial age, with when the mega-city comprised of just seven islands and a miniscule
population, the government simply transported all the garbage to the Deonar landfill, where
it would be unceremoniously dumped in an area earmarked for garbage disposal.

Over the years, Mumbai's population exploded. From a tiny fishing village it
metamorphosed into the gargantuan mega-city it is today. The cotton mills grew into mega-
corporations. The city and its populations steam rolled on the path of progress. Yet the
garbage disposal system, never evolved. For decades, the city authorities continued to pile
unprocessed garbage into the Deonar landfill, expanding it in area as the demands of the
city rose.

As the new century dawned, environmental activism caused the government to

acknowledge its mistake. But instead of taking positive steps to rectify it error, like it always
has, passed the buck. The landfill was improved to an abattoir. Now, along with pollutants
damaging the soil, and entering the water table, they were being spewed into the air as well,
hundreds of cubic meters at a time. All this while the metropolis engulfed the area into its
residential territories.

A combination of years of government apathy, lack of foresight and unchecked expansion

has caused the Deonar abattoir area to be one on the most polluted populated sites in the
world.
Location

Deonar is a neighborhood in the eastern suburb of Mumbai, India. It lies on the Eastern
Express Highway. The closest railway station is Govandi.

It comes under the Mumbai Suburban district, parliamentary constituency: 'Mumbai South
Central'. It is governed under Zone 5 – Ward M for the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation.
Environmental Impact
All the issues generally associated with landfill regions plague Deonar. A large number of
adverse impacts may occur from landfill operations. These impacts can vary: fatal accidents
(e.g., scavengers buried under waste piles); infrastructure damage (e.g., damage to access
roads by heavy vehicles); pollution of the local environment (such as contamination of
groundwater and/or aquifers by leakage and residual soil contamination during landfill
usage, as well as after landfill closure); offgassing of methane generated by decaying organic
wastes (methane is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, and can
itself be a danger to inhabitants of an area); harbouring of disease vectors such as rats and
flies, particularly from improperly operated landfills, which are common in Third-world
countries; injuries to wildlife; and simple nuisance problems (e.g., dust, odour, vermin, or
noise pollution).

Environmental noise and dust are generated from vehicles accessing a landfill as well as
from working face operations. These impacts are best to intercept at the planning stage
where access routes and landfill geometrics can be used to mitigate such issues. Vector
control is also important, but can be managed reasonably well with the daily cover
protocols.
Most modern landfills in industrialized countries are operated with controls to attempt
manage problems such as these. How ever due to government apathy, neglect, lack of funds
and a governmental aversion to improvement projects, the landfill at Donar remains largely
anarchic.
It continues to be a source for many vector and water borne diseases. The toxins from the
waste matter have seeped into the water table and local soil. The air around the landfill is
laden with landfill off-gasses and has a putrid stench to it.
The area has been rendered unfit for human habitation.

Landfill Gas
Landfill gas production results from chemical reactions and microbes acting upon the waste
as the putrescible materials begins to break down in the landfill. The rate of production is
affected by waste composition and landfill geometry, which in turn influence the bacterial
populations within it, chemical make-up, thermal characteristics, entry of moisture and
escape of gas.
The spatially heterogeneous nature of most landfills mean that there will be a wide range of
physical conditions and biological ecosystems co-existing simultaneously within most sites.
This heterogeneity, together with the frequently unclear nature of the contents, makes
landfill gas production more difficult to predict and control than standard industrial
bioreactors for sewage treatment.
Due to the constant production of landfill gas, the increase in pressure within the landfill
(together with differential diffusion) causes the gas's release into the atmosphere. Such
emissions lead to important environmental, hygiene and security problems in the landfill.
Several accidents have occurred, for example at Loscoe, England in 1986, where migrating
landfill gas which was allowed to build up destroyed the property. An accident causing two
deaths occurred from an explosion in a house adjacent to Skellingsted landfill in Denmark in
1991. Due to the risk presented by landfill gas there is a clear need to monitor gas produced
by landfills. In addition to the risk of fire and explosion, landfill gas migration in the
subsurface can result in contact of landfill gas with groundwater. This in turn can result in
contamination of groundwater by organic compounds present in nearly all landfill gas.
Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, with the remainder being
mostly carbon dioxide. Landfill gas also contains varying amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, water
vapor, sulfur, and other contaminants. Most of these other contaminants are known as
"non-methane organic compounds" or NMOCs. Some inorganic contaminants (for example
mercury) are also known to be present in landfill gas. There are sometimes also radioactive
contaminants (for example tritium) found in landfill gas. The non-methane organic
compounds usually make up less than one percent of landfill gas. In 1991, the EPA identified
ninety-four non-methane organic compounds including toxic chemicals like benzene,
toluene, chloroform, vinyl chloride, and carbon tetrachloride. At least forty one of the non-
methane organic compounds are halogenated compounds (chemicals containing halogens:
typically chlorine, fluorine, or bromine).
Landfill gases have an influence on climate change. The major components are CO 2 and
methane, both of which are greenhouse gas.
These gasses degrade the air quality and increase the greenhouse gasses in the area. Their
putrid smell makes human habitation in the area difficult and unhygienic.
Petitions, Grievances and Government Apathy
The residents of the area are grieved with the impact caused by the landfill on their health
and daily life. Several petitions are lodged in various courts every year, in vain hope of
securing solutions to the problems caused by the landfill.
In July 2010, in response to a PIL filed by a city based lawyer, municipal commissioner
Swadheen Kshatriya has defended the location of the dumping ground in an affidavit filed
in the Bombay high court.
The affidavit states that under section 61(h) of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1988, it is
the obligatory duty of BMC to construct and maintain public markets and slaughter houses
to regulate the same. As per the affidavit, the Deonar dumping ground was constructed in
1971-72 after closing down the century-old slaughter houses situated at Bandra, Kurla and
other parts of city.
“Deonar dumping ground is one of the oldest sites of BMC and it has been used for disposal
of municipal solid waste (MSW) since 1927. On account of disposal of huge quantity of MSW,
there are environment-related issues such as foul odour and landfill fire etc. The influx of
garbage at disposal site is covered with earth material on daily basis. In order to overcome
the foul odour nuisance, a herbal-based insect repallent is regularly sprayed on the
disposed MSW,” states the affidavit.
PETA representatives have visited Deonar on several occasions, sometimes announced and
sometimes without announcing their presence, in an effort to obtain a clear picture of the
day-to-day activities at the abattoir. Despite aggressive campaigning by the NGO, little has
changed.

Solutions and Control Measures

The alternatives to landfills are waste reduction and recycling strategies. Secondary to not
creating waste, there are various alternatives to landfills. In the late 20th century, alternative
methods of waste disposal to landfill and incineration have begun to gain acceptance.
Anaerobic digestion, composting, mechanical biological treatment, pyrolysis and plasma arc
gasification have all began to establish themselves in the market.
In recent years, some countries, such as Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Switzerland, have banned the disposal of untreated waste in landfills. In these countries,
only the ashes from incineration or the stabilized output of mechanical biological treatment
plants may still be deposited.
The BMC has also agreed to set up a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) to scientific segregate
and recover recyclable waste. Only bio-degradable waste will be pushed into the landfill.
Through this technology, which is being used for the first time in Mumbai, the civic body
hopes to quicken the process of degradation of the waste dumped at the landfill site.
Work on a peripheral road, a compound wall, an administrative building, water supply,
service reservoirs and plantation of trees on the periphery has begun. Chief Engineer (Solid
Waste Management) B P Patil said it will be functional by October 2011.

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