Aruwakkalu residents horrified by odour from landfill
Some families leave the area, officials warn that schools might be closed Ministry and CEA officials defend project, problems will be solved by next March
The Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill was built to comply with modern methods of garbage disposal. This was supposed to bring relief after the tragedy at Meethotamulla - but it has only instilled horrors in the minds of the people of Aruwakkalu.
It was revealed to the Sunday Times that villagers are unable to engage in their day- to- day activities and some have even decided to leave the villages they lived in for years, some for generations.
Serakkuliya re s i d e n t Buddhika Gihan said even teachers boarded in the area had complained to the zonal education officers regarding their inability to reside and conduct educational activities in schools.
The authorities were informed that if a solution was not found the schools might have to be closed down.
According to Mr Gihan, the odour has caused children to frequently fall sick -- the most common ailment being regular vomiting or fainting.
He said they now had to wait for lorries to buy drinking water. A family spends between Rs. 150 and Rs. 200 daily to buy drinking water everyday, as the normal water supply is not fit for consumption.
“We are on the border of the Wilpattu national park and elephants often enter our villages. We believe they are attracted to the odour. These are issues residents never faced before,” he said.
Mr Gihan said he had visited the sanitary landfill and there were visible structural defects. When he asked a worker in the site about the matter, he had simply replied that the higher officials did not pay heed to the warnings.
He claimed the Environment Impact Assessment report said that the sanitary landfill was located 6km away from human habitat but this report was based on the previous suggested site in Aruwakkalu. However the landfill was built in Serakkuliya and there was a village 200m away from the landfill.
“We understand that the construction cannot be magically shifted but we ask the authorities to follow the proper guidelines when maintaining such sanitary landfills close to human habitat, and maintain it according to the promised guidelines,” he added.
The area residents are planning to hold a huge protest today, with the hope that the State institutions would pay heed to their woes.
In spite of claims made by the residents, the Colombo Municipal Council said the sanitary landfill was a kilometre away from any residence.
Municipal Commissioner Palitha Nanayakkara said the sanitary landfill was maintained according to set standards and the transportation of perishable waste was also done according to standards given by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA).
He said he believed the people were being aroused by some politicians to create a fuss about the issue.
"After having followed proper standards I do not know what these people are complaining about," he said.
The Commissioner said that due to the continuous rain in the country during the past few weeks they were unable to unload garbage from the trucks. As a result they had to delay the disposal process and keep the garbage in the trucks.
According to him 28 tipper trucks unload 300 metric tonnes of waste every day in the sanitary landfill. The capacity of each truck differs from 10 to 15 metric tonnes.
"The work will continue as usual as a court also has issued an order preventing people from causing interruptions to the activities of the landfill," he said.
The Megapolis and Western Province Development Ministry Secretary Nihal Rupasinghe said that due to the current weather situation there had been a delay in unloading the garbage. However to speed up the process they had maximized the machinery and manpower on the site.
“These practical issues have arisen due to natural factors that cause interruptions to the process. We can only take steps to mitigate the impact, we cannot make it completely go away,” he said.
However he assured the sanitary landfill would not cause long term effects.
“By March next year there will be four trains transporting perishable waste after the completion of the Kelaniya transfer station,” he said.
Moreover Mr. Rupasinghe also revealed they had received cabinet approval for a state institution to take over operations of the sanitary landfill, but no decision had been taken regarding which institution should take over.
Amidst claims from protesters that the sanitary landfill is a half completed project CEA officials assured there was no threat in the partially completed sanitary landfill.
"If we had waited until the project was completed we would have created another Meethotamulla because the CMC would have dumped garbage in various places," Solid Waste Management Unit Director S. Jayasekara said.
According to her despite the project being half complete there is a proper liner system in the cells where garbage is dumped. As a result the cells are sealed preventing any odour escaping into the atmosphere.
She explained that the leachate discharged from the compressed waste was done after it was treated in accordance with standards.
“We have instructed them not to discharge the leachate out of the premises, it will be circulated within the premises after treatment and will be used for cultivating trees on the land,” she said.
Ms. Jayasekara pointed out that garbage could not be merely dumped into the cells - it must be compacted and covered with a layer of soil. If this process was done properly there should not have been any odour released.
"Issues like odour and other practical matters will arise only if there are operational issues. Just because it is a landfill, all problems will not be solved. The operation must be done in a proper manner," she said.
CEA officials are expected to visit the landfill for further investigations in view of the recent complaints.
The Megapolis Ministry's Environment specialist said the project was not technically half done.
“Three cells have already been completed there are only two more cells to be completed and they are expected to be ready by the end of next month,” one of the experts, Shankaja Uggalla, said.
According to the proposed plan the daily capacity of the sanitary landfill is 1200 metric tonnes. This was after the completion of the Kelaniya transfer station. Until then there was no place where garbage could be dumped.
“Kerawalapitiya was only a temporary measure and since it was a marshy land we could not dump any longer as it will create major issues in the long run,” she said.
Hence until the whole project was completed 600 metric tonnes of perishable waste would be transported by road.
“We contracted with the construction company to design the landfill in such a way that it could cater to our immediate need. As a result three cells were immediately completed," she added.
She pointed out that instead of releasing the waste leachate it is stored, as they have not received permission to release it to the environment.
"We have fitted agitators and effective microorganisms were added to control the odour."
Puttalam Health Services Regional Director Dr. Dinushi Fernando said on the basis of orders g iven by the Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, they would submit a report on the implications the Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill had on the area residents.
Accordingly, the report is due to be submitted on October 8.
Investigations regarding the matter will begin today, following which the report will be compiled on Monday and ready for submission by Tuesday.
“Initially I was to appoint a three member committee to look into the matter, however due to the gravity of the situation we have decided to deploy an eight member team to investigate,” she said.