Image Courtesy: Flickr
Delhi was listed as the most polluted capital in the world last year and the third most polluted city in the country.
Though the World Air Quality Report 2023 had listed Delhi as the most polluted capital in terms of PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5 levels, the national capital suffers from other sources of pollution as well, which are no less dangerous than the air pollution.
In fact, the other sources of pollution add to the air pollution.
Adding to the woes due to the existing air pollution, the untreated municipal solid waste and landfills have emerged as a serious threat to the denizens of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Mentioning the situation as “horrifying’, the Supreme Court (SC) on 13 May reprimanded the Delhi government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the mountains of untreated solid waste in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), and said it was directly affecting the lives of people.
Asking the authorities concerned to take immediate measures, the SC in its direction said that the government and the municipal bodies had to ensure that present quantity of untreated solid waste did not increase in Delhi and its surroundings, till the proper facilities for processing the waste were in place.
The ever increasing quantity of solid waste in Delhi-NCR has become a matter of serious concern, as it’s impacting environment and public health.
WHAT IS MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE?
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), which is commonly known as garbage, consists of everyday items, which are used and thrown away like discarded plastic bottles and containers, packaging, food packet wrappers, discarded paper, appliances, used batteries, metals, clothes, leather, wood, glass, sanitary wastes, etc.
MSW is primarily the waste produced by domestic households, although it also includes some commercial and industrial wastes that are similar in nature.
As per official records and the affidavit submitted in the SC, out of the 11,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated in Delhi and NCR every day, 3800tonnes of waste remains untreated.
In Faridabad and Gurugram, out of 1000 tonnes and 1200 tonnes of solid waste generated daily respectively, the processing capacity is 240 tonnes and 150 tonnes respectively.
The Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) in its report on pollution in the NCR region, stated it to be a ‘serious issue’.
IMPACT OF SOLID WASTE
Solid waste can impact environment through multiple channels. It can cause all sorts of pollution — air, water, soil as well as severe health impact.
“Air pollution is caused because of methane emission due to degradation of waste and to mention most importantly, the warming potential of methane is very high compared to other greenhouse gases.
Secondly water pollution as well as groundwater pollution are also one of the major impacts of unmanaged waste. During the rainfall, all the contaminants are carried away through runoff and are primary reasons of severe health impact. Greenhouse gases are generated from the decomposition of organic wastes in landfills, and untreated leachate pollutes surrounding soil and water bodies,” Prof Chander Kumar Singh, Dean (Academics), TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, shares with Science India.
THREATS DUE TO LANDFILLS
A similar yet a more serious problem that exists in the national capital is that of the landfills. It is a problem of gargantuan proportions that cannot be ignored. Delhi has three giant landfills — at Okhla, Bhalsawa and Ghazipur.
A landfill is a site or a dumping ground for the disposal of waste materials, which is collected from all across the city. With the rising height of dumped solid wastes in the three landfills taking the shape of hills, the national capital is on the verge of an accident due to fire in dumped wastes, like it happened in April recently.
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
On 22 April, Delhi virtually chocked on toxic fumes, after a fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill. Besides dangerous heat due to the fire, methane emitted out of the burning garbage severely polluted the city.
Referring to another fire incident at Bhalsawa landfill a few years ago, Prof Singh says, “I remember an incident which took place a few years back when fire broke out in heaps of dumping site near Bhalsawa and some lives were lost. None of the areas near the dumpsite is habitable due to smell, spread of pollution in water drains, which get clogged during monsoon and act as primary breeding ground for malaria, dengue vectors.”
“In Delhi, and in general throughout the country, solid waste is not managed properly. Segregation of waste does not happen and this becomes more hazardous. Methane emission would always take place in these dumping sites and in weather when temperature is 45-48ºC, it’s easy for methane to catch fire,” he explains.
In 2016, and again in 2018, a massive fire broke out in Mumbai’s landfill at Deonar, and the fire-fighters had a tough time dousing the flames. The Deonar dumping ground fire not just exposed the fast deteriorating living conditions in India’s financial capital but also rung the alarm bells for the most notoriously polluted city, which is Delhi.
Once fire starts, all sorts of toxic gases are emitted. The smoke that is emitted is dangerous because we don’t know the burning of what kind of waste — organic, e-waste, plastic, chemicals or batteries — led to that smoke.
The impact of these dumping sites can be felt up to several kilometres, both horizontally and vertically below the surface. Delhi is overburdened by solid waste and all the landfills are operating beyond their carrying capacity.
The groundwater bears the long-lasting impact. The leachates from these dumping sites get into subsurface through rainfall. The soil does have capacity to deal with these leachates to certain extent but near and below these dumping sites, the amount of leachates is so high that soil and groundwater both get contaminated.
“Groundwater would have the highest nitrate contamination in these areas along with all kinds of toxic heavy metals. If you visit the IRS Officers colony near Ghaziabad, you would realize the groundwater is highly toxic and also has certain foul odour,” Prof Singh remarks.
WHAT’S THE WAY OUT?
Prof Singh, with a geochemistry background and specialisation in environment and public health issues, says, “We need to look into technological solutions such as waste-to-energy conversion which is very minimal in India.”
The environmentalists strongly feel that it’s high time both the governments and municipal bodies in respective cities worked on war-footing by using solid waste management approach and technology, along with strict implementation of policies and regulations to reduce waste, whether it’s MSW or piled up garbage at landfills.
The writer is Editor, Science India
