FAULTY technology led to a major effluent leak from a multi-million distillery owned by the Kedia group in Durg district, Madhya Pradesh, on March 29. As a knee-jerk reaction, the state pollution control board (PCB), which till date had chosen to ignore the complaints of pollution, ordered the closure of the plant. The company, Kedia Castle Dellon Industries Ltd, is now trying to sell the sabotage angle, indirectly owning up to a lack of risk management. Meanwhile, shocked by official apathy, the villagers are planning to set up a forum and cut off water supply to the distillery.

In its study, a team of pcb scientists said that the distillery had a very low capacity effluent treatment plant installed a long time ago. Most of the wells and borewells around the Kumahari-based plant had been showing signs of chemical pollution since long. But on March 29 an unspecified amount of untreated effluents found its way into the Kharoon river, the main source of water for Raipur city as well as the villages in the area. Both, villagers and company sources say that the dam holding the untreated effluent broke, adding "spent wash" to the 12 km stretch of the river till the Shivnath Sangam point.

The exact chemical composition of what leaked into the river is not known. M Sundaravadivel, environmental engineer with the Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb) says, "Liquor is manufactured from molasses and grains. In the case of molasses the effluent discharged has a potash content of 5000-12,000 mg/l***, nitrogen at 1000-1200 mg/l, phosphate 500-1500 mg/l, chlorides, sulphates, sodium and trace metals.

The effluent discharged from the grain-based plants contains proteins, fats, cellulose, N-free extract and flyash." He added that the effluents have a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) range of 40,000-50,000 mg/l, and a chemical oxygen demand (COD) range of 80,000-1,00,000 mg/l. This range of bod and cod can result in the depletion of the dissolved oxygen, consequently destroying aquatic life. Officials with the MEF said this can render it unfit for drinking purposes.

The company is not forthcoming about the quantum of the effluent discharged from the plant. However, L N Batra, secretary general of the All India Distillers' Association says, "Normally, effluents generated from a distillery is 15 times the volume of the finished liquor." The Kumhari plant has a daily production capacity of 100 kl.

Within 1 day of the spill most of the people started complaining of severe stomach convulsions, vomiting and skin irritation. Animals stopped going close to the river. The aquatic life took the brunt of the spill. But the worst hit were the hundreds of Kevat families living in these villages, who lost their livelihood as there were hardly any fishes left in the river or the other ponds.