Soil capping no solution to methane formation: KSPCB
Quarry at S. Bingipura to be converted into a tree park
By : shwetha satyanarayan
Update: 2015-07-25 06:51 GMT
Bengaluru: While the BBMP claims to have chalked out a foolproof action plan to tackle the garbage problem in Lakshmipura and S.Bingipura landfills, environmentalists say the civic body's action plan is only diverting the attention of the public from the problem, but that it does not solve anything.
Soon after fire broke out near the landfills due to methane formation, BBMP announced that permanent solutions were drawn up and soil capping would be done on the 7.5 acre landfill. Also, it said that the quarry in S.Bingipura would be converted into a tree park.
However, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) chairman Vaman Acharya pointed out that soil capping does not prevent methane gas formation. He said, “By covering the entire land with soil, there will be no oxygen supply to the accumulated garbage. This leads to anaerobic reaction and continues to form methane.
“Though planting trees is an alternative, soil capping is rarely a good solution. There are high possibilities of explosion in such scenarios, killing trees.” Mr Acharya added that soil capping, however, can curb many other impacts like plastic, rodents and dog menace. The solution to this crisis is burning of methane, he suggested.
“The BBMP should collect all the gas, create a big stove and burn the gas day and night. The civic agency plans to lay ventilator pipes and release methane directly into the air. Letting carbon dioxide into the air is fine but not methane gas. The BBMP needs to adopt gas flaring method,” he maintained.
Remedial measures:
The BBMP, on the other hand, has a slew of measures in its kitty to improve the conditions at the landfills. According to BBMP (East) joint commissioner Muniraju, the civic agency will spend Rs 8 crore to solve the methane menace at the landfills.
“We have prepared an action plan for Rs 8 crore and step-by-step measures will be adopted to solve the garbage problems in Lakshmipura and S.Bingipura. As of now, we are supplying drinking water in six tankers to both the villages and we are identifying source points to supply drinking water,” he said.
The BBMP will adopt EM solution and spray chemicals into the contaminated water bodies, and in a later stage, will de-silt the lake. It will also construct a retention wall to prevent the flow of leachate into water bodies and will build a channel for rain water to enter the lake.
Mr Muniraju said that the stone quarry where garbage is dumped will be shut down in three months. “In the next five months, we will solve all the garbage-related problems,” he said.