Kochi: The Ernakulam district collector has submitted before the Kerala High Court that the discharge of effluents through the PWD drainage by hotels and other establishments was the main reason for the pollution of drinking water sources in Chottanikkara region. Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla said that hotel owners had not made arrangements for treating the waste water within their own premises and that they were refusing to comply with the direction issued by the Disaster Management Authority. They were continuing with their illegal activities and thereby causing menace to public health and drinking water sources.
The collector also submitted that the hotels do not have any mechanism to refine the waste from septic tanks within their own compounds. Septic tank waste was being discharged through the public drainage, thereby causing pollution of the drinking water resources in the surrounding area. He referred to the advocate-commissioner's report and stated that the water in the nearby wells had acquired a blackish colour. Other drinking water sources such as Adiyakkal thodu situated in the nearby area is highly contaminated due to the discharge of effluents through the PWD drain.
The tank noticed by the advocate-commissioner cannot be termed as a septic tank as it was not built in tune with the specification of a scientific septic tank which is mandatory for the functioning of a hotel. The tank mentioned in the report is just a collection tank which is sealed permanently with solid concrete. This itself proves that no scientific methods were adopted to refine the waste accumulated in the hotel, the collector said.
