This article is the 4th in the series of articles investigating the issue of industrial waste (both solid and liquid) dumpers, camouflaged as water tankers, into Vrishabhavati river at night. The first can be found here, the second here and the third here.
In order to understand the nature and magnitude of these toxic tanker dumps we compiled known incidents in the Vrishabhavati river basin, in the last article. Many insights emerged from analysis of those incidences. One of them being – Much of the toxic chemical waste emerged from garment industry.
The garment industry running amuck
It has been our experience on the ground that no matter where you go, whether it is Vrishabhavathi, Arkavathi, Hemavathi or Cauvery river, the biggest threat to rivers today is pollution from garment industry. The colours in the rivers, streams and channels leading to the rivers are all too obvious. Add to this the pungent odour that makes people around instantly sick.
Garment units that dye, bleach and wash with toxic industrial chemicals are usually small scale units scatted all over Bengaluru and its peri-urban areas. Why are garment industries small scale? The big textile houses outsource the most problematic processes - dyeing, bleaching and washing to scattered small scale units. Why these processes are problematic? They are water intensive, highly polluting and not to mention the occupational health and safety of the workers . One easy way to circumvent the laws and cut cost is to outsource.
As per pollution control board consent conditions, large scale units have to treat their own effluents while small scale units – who usually lack any technical, financial and managerial capabilities to treat their effluents, will have to truck away their effluents, to the six Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP’s) located in and around Bengaluru, to be treated at a cost. The effluents are trucked away, not to the CETP’s, but to the nearest waterbodies/waterways including everyone’s most favourite - free for all to dump Vrishabhavati river. All this saves money for the garment industry while the rivers and general public pay for it with their health and wellbeing.
