Kottayam: Coliform bacteria infests Pamba waters

Kottayam: The presence of coliform bacteria at various points at river Pamba is far beyond the accepted standards, 

statistics available with the Pollution Control Board at Pathanamthitta district show, indicating that it is harmful for the devotees who take a dip in the river before ascending the Sabarimala hill for darshan.

The number of the colonies of coliform bacteria in the river has been found to go up to 20,000 in 100 ml of water at the Kochupampa, Kakkiyar, Thriveni, Arattukadavu, downstream Pamba and Njunganar points of the river against the permissible 500. The samples were taken from November 16, 2017 to January 19, 2018 during the pilgrimage season in Sabarimala. The numbers were particularly high at 6,000 in Pamba and 7,900 in Njunangar on November 16 and they went still up on November 30 to reach 13,500 at Pamba and 16,000 at Njunganar, making the increase in the colifrom level apparent as each day of the pilgrimage passes.

"The increase in the total choliform and faecal choliform level is due to the discharge of untreated/partly treated sewage into the river," Alexander George, environmental engineer of the PCB at Pathanamthitta, told DC. "The waste water from Sannidhanam also reaches the river through the Njunangaar stream. There is a 5 mld (million litres per day) sewage treatment plant at Sannidhanam but it fails to meet standards because of inadequate disinfection facilities."

The sewerage network system at Sannidhanam is defective because of the inadequate capacity of sewerage lines. Many of the sewage tanks are not yet connected to the plant. The 3.5 mld sewage treatment plant at Pamba is also inadequate, he said. That the plant was damaged in the floods may make the matter worse this year.

He said three steps are needed to contain the pollution load in the river: set up a new sewage treatment plant of 10 mld at Pamba, repair the sewage treatment plant at Sannidhanam and rectify the sewerage network system at Sannidhanam.