Pollution
SEQUEL to its bid to regulate uncontrolled discharge of effluents from tanneries, the Federal Government has begun the construction of three separate effluent treatment plants in Kano State. The plants to be located in Challawa, Sharada and Bompai industrial areas arose out of concerns for the health of the environment and citizens, as effluents are discharged openly from industries that failed to meet the standards set by the Federal Ministry of Environment.
This sprawling city, home to a large number of migrants from within and outside Nigeria, has suffered from avoidable environmental degradation, most especially from uncontrolled discharge of effluents from tanneries.
For many years, thick, coloured and smelly water is continuously piped into open drains, seeping into bodies of water and contaminating underground water and air.
The people have suffered silently by the effects of increasing pollution from industrial activities with discharges into the Challawa river from Challawa Industrial Area; the Salanta river from Sharada Industrial Area as well as Jakara dam from Bompai Industrial Area. But the problem has its roots in inadequate planning dating back to four decades.
Tanneries and textile industries in most Nigerian cities do not have the capacity and technology to manage their wastes in an environmentally responsible manner. The indiscriminate discharge of untreated industrial effluents into rivers have caused great damage to river beds, adjoining farm lands and contamination of both underground water and water reservoirs.
Records indicate that Kano State Government actually commissioned a study on the problem in 1978. The outcome recommended treatment of the industrial wastes through natural drainage channels with a discharge into the Jakara dam. Then, this system of effluents management was seemingly adequate as an effective method of waste treatment and disposal. As new industries sprang up in Challawa and Sharada Industrial Areas, effluents generated were discharged into Challawa River and Salanta River respectively.
In the three industrial areas in Kano, the environment is under increasing pressure from solid and liquid wastes emanating from the tannery industries. The metals present in tannery effluents such as chromium, aluminium and zirconium are all classified as having a high and chronic toxic effect on organic life. These are inevitable by-products of the leather manufacturing process and cause significant pollution unless properly treated prior to discharge.
Moreover, the tannery industry can cause high influx of chromium into the biosphere, which contributes 40 per cent of the total industrial use. Untreated wastewater discharged from tanning industries contains high level of biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, electrical conductivity, and heavy metals especially chromium above permissible levels, making it potentially toxic.
Cognizant of the dangers to the environment and the people, the Kano State Government, the Federal Ministry of Environment and other interested parties have carried out several preliminary studies and made sundry recommendations on the treatment of the industrial waste in Kano.
The options are varied with rising cost over time, but Kano State Government could not respond to the pollution problems due to paucity of funds. Last year, the Ecological Fund Office (EFO), an arm of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, stepped in to address the problem in a sustainable manner.
A technical committee which reviewed all options was mandated to produce a cost-effective and sustainable management plan for the industrial waste in the Challawa, Sharada and Bompai Industrial Areas of Kano.
gathered that the technical committee embarked on data collection, including reconnaissance survey of the project site, inventory of existing physical features, drainage evaluations, soil materials assessments, the volume of effluent discharged by the companies during peak and ordinary periods, quantity of skin processed during peak and ordinary periods per day and evaluation of research works previously undertaken on the matter.
The committee, in considering international best practice, studied effluent treatment in similar industrial clusters in other climes like Austria, Kenya and Ethiopia.
The committee, according to the Permanent Secretary, EFO, Dr. Habiba Lawal, recommended that a Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) for both primary and secondary treatment of 4,000m^3/day capacity be built in Sharada; a similar