UPPCB control room to ensure zero discharge
VARANASI: The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB)’s regional office in Varanasi has set up a control room for effective monitoring of effluent treatment plants (ETPs) at industrial units along the rivers so that not even a single drop of effluent is discharged into the rivers and other water bodies.
The control room is all set to start functioning within a week. Equipped with a big screen and equipment required for round-the-clock monitoring of effluent generated from industrial units and its treatment, the control room is connected to the online continuous efficient monitoring system (OCEMS), one each, at the industrial units along the River Ganga stretch between Bhadohi and Ghazipur, said UPPCB regional officer (Varanasi) Kalika Singh. An OCEMS each has been installed at over 30 industrial units.
As soon as any industrial unit discharges partially treated or untreated industrial effluent into the Ganga or any other river, OCEMS connected with the system at the control room will immediately send an alert on screen with the name of the industrial unit. Immediately, the UPPCB regional office will send a message to authorities concerned to take action against the unit, Singh said.
Thereafter, a notice will be sent to the unit discharging untreated effluent into the water body or river and action will be taken against the unit, he said.
Singh said that three persons will be deployed in shifts in the control room round the clock.
Data about Ganga water quality will also be updated through the system at the control room.