Deadly discharge

Residents of an industrial cluster blame effluent and sewage treatment plants for discharging poorly treated water that contaminates the area, causes skin diseases

- VIVEK MISHRA, KANPUR

THE AUTHORITIES say a plant has been set up and is working to clean the effluents discharged from Jajmau's tanneries. But the water it releases stinks and is extremely dirty and frothy,” says Sonu Yadav of Motipur village. “We still use it for irrigation because it is the only available source,” he adds.

“I have had skin problems for more than a decade. The doctor says it is because of the water we use,” says Kishore Kumar of Jana village.

What is common to Motipur and Jana is their water source. The two villages are situated on opposite sides of a nearly 10-km-long irrigation canal formed by the discharge of treated water from a common effluent treatment plant (or CETP, to treat effluents discharged by factories) and four sewage treatment plants (or STPS, to treat domestic wastewater). The five plants treat industrial and domestic discharge of Jajmau—an industrial cluster of some 400 tanneries in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh—situated near the villages.

"All my finger nails have developed black spots. Water contamination has caused health problems to nearly all village residents" Kishanpal, Jana village, Kanpur

The water released by the plants after treatment is supposed to be clean. Therefore, before the canal empties into the Ganga, it is used by the villages for irrigation and domestic purposes. But the water damages crops, and causes skin diseases and other ailments in almost everyone in the villages, say residents. This is corroborated by official data. Of the