The water in areas such as Pathalam bund near the Edayar industrial site, the point where the Chalakkal Thodu joins the Periyar, the riverside near FACT, the Merchem Edayar discharge point and the stretch of the Periyar in Eloor, contained dangerous chemicals such as endosulfan, according to a report filed before the Kerala High Court by the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram.
In a statement filed in response to a petition, the statement said that samples collected from 64 areas had been examined in detail. The water in most of the sample areas contained dangerous chemicals.
The water from the areas should not be consumed without proper scientific treatment, the statement said, adding that if the court issued an order, experts would come before the court and explain the technical details of the examinations done on the samples.
All the water samples, except three, had shown the presence of pesticides. According to rules, water having the presence of any pesticide should not be supplied for domestic use.
The court had earlier asked the NIIST to submit a report on the quality of drinking water available in the areas near the Periyar.
The court had appointed an Advocate Commission to look into the issue. The single-member commission headed by lawyer P.A. Jacob was appointed by the High Court when a contempt of court petition filed by the Eloor-based NGO Green Action Force came up for hearing.
In its petition, Green Action Force pointed out that even though the High Court had ordered the State Pollution Control Board on April 12, 2005, to collect samples from the Periyar to check the level of pollution, this has not been done on a regular basis.
There were widespread complaints of increasing levels of pollution in the Periyar allegedly due to dumping of industrial waste into the river, it said.
