Preventing pollution of Kottuli wetland

A waste water treatment plant constructed as part of a series of measures aimed at protecting the ecologically precious Kottuli wetland, will become operational at the Cooperative Hospital in Kozhikode on Monday.By treating waste generated by the hospital, the treatment plant would prevent entry of hospital waste into Cannoly Canal and Kottuli wetland to a considerable extent.Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran will inaugurate the waste water treatment facility.Earlier, waste from the hospital was being released directly into Cannoly Canal polluting the canal and its neighbourhood when the canal overflows in heavy rain.The plant has a capacity to treat 80,000 litres of waste water and was equipped to reduce level of pollutants to permissible limits, a spokesman for the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) said here on Saturday.The treatment plant was designed and constructed by Kerala Water Authority (KWA) using the funds received from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for the management action plan for protection of Kottuli wetland.The Forest Department, State Pollution Control Board, KWA, Fisheries Department, and Corporation of Kozhikode are closely associated with this project which will be executed by the CWRDM.Besides constructing waste water treatment plants, the management action plan drawn up for Kottuli wetland also envisages, mangrove afforestation, planting of a belt of screw pine , fisheries development, de-silting works and de-weeding.Environmental activists have been carrying on a high pitch campaign for effective safeguards to protect Kottuli wetland since it is a major receptacle of flood waters, reducing flooding in rainy reason and is under threat of encroachment.There are complaints that some parts of the 87.04 hectares of wetland has already been grabbed by private agencies.Kottuli wetland receives tidal influx from Kallai and Korapuzha estuaries. It is also home to seven species of mangroves, 20 mangrove associates, 20 species of water birds, 11 species of fishes, one species of prawn, and one species of crab.The inaugural function on Monday would be attended by S. Kaul, Director, Ministry of Environment and Forests, A. Jaythilak, District Collector, K.V. Jayakumar, Executive Director, CWRDM, R. Sasidharan, Chief Engineer, KWA, and Bharathan, president, Cooperative Hospital, besides Mayor M. Bhaskaran who will preside

The Hindu, 16^th November 2008