Excerpts from

Report submitted by Institute of Ocean Management – Anna university

Chennai

TO

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (ENVIS) CENTRE, Dept of Environment

GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU CHENNAI – 600 015

Introduction: The coastal areas of Tamilnadu are assuming greater importance

owing to increasing human population, urbanization and accelerated industrial
activities. These anthropogenic activities have put tremendous pressure on the
fragile coastal environments. In general, the near shore regions are of great
concern now, due to the fact that they are not only most productive areas but also
the sites of the most critical pollution hot spots (Table 2.1 and Fig.2.1).

Table. 2.1. Pollution hot spots along the coast of Tamil nadu

No. District Nature of Pollution

1 Thiruvallur Thermal, domestic sewage, industrial, chemical

2 Chennai Harbour, domestic sewage, industrial, chemical

3 Kancheepuram Thermal, domestic sewage, industrial, chemical, textile,

tannery and tourism

4 Villupuram Domestic sewage, industrial, chemical, aquaculture waste

5 Cuddalore Domestic sewage, industrial, chemical, Aquaculture waste,

harbour

6 Nagapattinam Domestic sewage, Aquaculture waste, tourism

7 Thiruvarur Aquaculture waste, Muthupet swamps

8 Thanjavur Domestic sewage, Sethubava chatram

9 Pudukottai Domestic sewage, oil & fish, industrial, Aquaculture waste

10 Ramnad Domestic sewage, Fishing harbour, Aquaculture waste

11 Tuticorin Thermal, domestic sewage, industrial, chemical, salt, tourism,

aquaculture waste

12 Thirunelveli Domestic sewage, industrial, nuclear

13 Kanyakumari Domestic sewage, fishing waste, tourism

Coastal pollution in Tamilnadu has seriously affected the exploitable living

resources, recreational and commercial uses of coastal areas and the overall
integrity of the marine and coastal ecosystems. Hence protection of the coastal and
marine regions from continuing pollution becomes the most essential in coastal
resources management. Effective planning for controlling and combating coastal
pollution requires knowledge about the magnitude of the pollution, the entry,
transport and the state of pollutants in the marine environment and their effects
on marine ecosystems. There are about 12,000 industries in Tamilnadu out of these
5,500 industries are located in coastal districts and 2,500 are situated near the
coasts. The major congregation of industries along Chennai coast where 1500
industries are located. The group wise distribution of industries along the Chennai
coast are as follows: Electricity, Gas and water (35%); Rubber, Plastic, Petroleum
and coal products (9.5%); Machine tools (9.3%); Paper and paper products
(5.5%); metal products (5.1%) and others (26.3%) (GoTN, 1995).

Major coastal activities:

Major coastal activities responsible for coastal/ marine pollution in Tamilnadu are
discharge and disposal of treated (1.8mld) / untreated sewage and industrial
wastes; discharge on industrial coolant waters, harbour activities such as dredging,
cargo handling, dumping of ship wastes, spilling of cargoes such as chemicals and
metal ores, oil transport, fishing activities such as mechanized fishing vessels
movements, draining of waste oil, painting of fishing vessels, scrapping of metal
lining of fishing vessels, dumping of wastes and trash fishes, oil exploration and oil
refining activities, recreation and tourism activities, salt production etc.
The places where these activities are predominant are given in Table 2.2 and
Fig.2.2.

Table 2.2. Major coastal activities leading to coastal/ marine pollution in Tamil Nadu
No. Activities Places

1. Discharge and disposal of Domestic wastes-- Chennai, Pondicherry,

Cuddalore, Tuticorin

2. Discharge and disposal of sewage and industrial wastes-- Chennai,

Pondicherry, Kayalpattinam, Tuticorin

3. Harbour activities and maritime transport -- Chennai, Cuddalore,

Nagapattinam, Tuticorin, Colachel, Vallinokkam

4. Fishing activities Throughout the coast

5. Oil exploration, production and refining Chennai, Cauvery delta, Nagapattinam,

Palk Strait

6. Recreation and tourism --- Chennai, Pondicherry, Tranquebar, Rameswaram,

Thiruchendur and Kanyakumari

7. Salt production -- Kovalam, Marakkanam, Vedaranyam, Tuticorin

wide variety of pollutants enter into coastal marine environment of Tamilnadu.

These can be classified and categorized in different ways according to the nature,
source, physical state etc. The most widely known, according to nature and source
are sewage, heavy metals, pesticides and oil plays the dominant role.

Sewage pollution

The domestic and municipal wastes form many coastal cities in Tamilnadu are
discharged directly into the coastal waters. The major cities situated along the
Tamilnadu coast are Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Pondicherry and Tuticorin.
Apart from these, more than 500 fishing villages and small towns are also situated
on the coast. The domestic waste discharged into the sea from most of the urban
and rural areas are untreated. The estimated population of these coastal cities is
around 20 million. In the city of Chennai alone, there are more than 10million
people living along the coast, and as a result more than 75 million gallons /day of
sewage get discharged into adjoining sea. The major part of the sewage is released
into Cooum, Adyar rivers and Buckingham canal.

Industrial pollution

The natural sources of heavy metals in coastal waters are through river runoff. The
mechanical and chemical weathering of rocks serves as another major source. In
addition, components washed into the atmosphere, through rainfall, wind blown
dust, forest fires and volcanic particles also added to this. The natural
concentrations of metals in sea water are very low and the possibility of
contamination are high (Bryan, 1984). Virtually, all industrial processes involving
water are potential sources of metallic contamination in estuaries and coastal
waters. The various sources of metal pollutants and principal metals associated with
these sources are presented in Table 2.3. The heavy metals commonly found along
Tamilnadu coastal waters are Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Nickel and Zinc
and the coastal waters of Tamilnadu are polluted with all these metals. The coastal
waters of Chennai are very highly polluted compared to other places in the state,
indicating the impact of too many industries, all crowded near Chennai and the
consequent increase in urban population in one large metropolitan area of the
coast.

Table 2.3

Major sources of metal pollutants - Pollutant sources Major pollutants

1. Chlor alkali - Mercury

2. Industrial coolant water discharge and corrosion of pipe lines -Copper

3. Dust and rain (atmospheric fall out petroleum burning) -Lead

4. Plating and Galvanizing (Machine tools and metal products) -Zinc, Cadmium
and Chromium

5. Municipal waste waters - Cadmium, Copper

6. Combustion of coal (power plants – fly ash) -Copper, Lead and Zinc

7. Combustion of oil (power generators)- Nickel

8. Dredging and dumping of sediments (harbours)- Zinc, Lead and Copper

9. Anti fouling paints -Copper and Mercury

The red category, highly polluting industries include petroleum refineries, thermal
power plants, tanneries, pulp and paper, industrial chemicals, non metallic mineral
products and small scale industries like chemical manufacturing along the coast
causing widespread air, water and land pollution. Studies indicate that an industrial
sector’s contribution to pollution is often disproportionately higher than its industrial
output. About 27% of the industrial output contributes to 87% of all sulphur
emissions and 70% of nitrogen emissions.

There are 14 major industries located in the Ennore-Manali areas. The industries at
Manali and Ennore are mostly chemical based, manufacturing petro-chemicals,
fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, paints etc. There are two power plants at Ennore,
namely, Ennore Thermal Power Plant with a production capacity of 200 MW and
North Chennai Thermal Power Plant with a production capacity of 600 MW. The fly
ash continuously deposits in the sea. The industries at Ennore-Manali are using a
wide 35 variety of raw materials and discharge waste products into the air, water or
land as gaseous emissions, liquid effluents and sludge, respectively.

Manali in Chennai, Cuddalore and Tuticorin emerged as industrial hotspots for air
pollution. Ennore creek is heavily polluted due to discharge of untreated sewage
from Chennai. Coastal areas such as Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and
Tuticorin did not fare any better.

In Cuddalore the major problem confronted in the town is due to the development
of Cuddalore chemical complex by the SIPCOT near the coast. There are 12 major
industries very close to the seacoast. The treated effluent from the industrial unit is
discharged on land.
Another industrial complex along the coast is found near Nagapattinam. This group
consists of a TNEB, Thermal Power station at Nannilam, WIMCO Bromide extraction
plant at Vedaranyam, Mettur chemical Plant manufacturing Liquid Bromide, the
Indian Steel Rolling Mill at Thirunindravur of Tiruvar.

Refineries, bromide extraction plant and chemical industries are located along the
coast in Thanjavur district. Manufacture of magnesium chloride solution plant is
located in Ramanathapuram district. Manufacture of aluminum fluoride, urea,
ammonium chloride, caustic soda manufacturing factories is located in Tuticorin
district. The seafood processing plant in Tuticorin discharges water with high
concentration of H2S(>2mg/l), BOD5 (>30 mg/l), COD (> 100 mg/l) and low pH
(6.5). The effluents were mostly untreated or, at best, partially treated. Except
some of the major industries, the effluents coming out of the industries are
disposed off in the coastal area.

Tanning industry

Oceanographic studies of the impact of tannery waste off the Tamil Nadu coast
have been carried out by the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. They
showed pollution from tanneries all along the coastal stretch from Chennai to
Vedaranyam. Since the impacts of tannery wastes have increased alarmingly, the
Government has requested the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai,
to find remedies for the crises. It has designed, erected, put into operation and
maintained a full-scale demonstration effluent treatment plant in Ranipettai since
1977 in a collaborative venture with the industry. Since then, it has designed
several effluent treatment systems for various factories in Chennai, Ranipettai and
Vaniyambadi.

Energy production

The most important environmental effects caused by electrical power plants are due
to thermal and residual chlorine effluents. Tropical aquatic organisms are more
prone to thermal effects because they normally live in a temperature regime which
is close to the upper tolerance limit. Temperature may exert synergistic effects with
mechanical stresses as well as chlorine residuals and trace metals present in the
effluent waters. Temperature elevation, due to effluent discharges from the power
plants in Madras (Kalpakkam and Ennore), has been observed in an area of several
square kilometres. The three condenser cooling system at Kalpakkam uses
seawater which is then discharged at high temperatures. The rise at the outfall is
found to range between 8 and 10°C. Ecological changes included a marginal
decrease in dissolved oxygen, pH, and primary productivity. The movement of the
thermal plume on the coast has not, led to fish kills, but significant changes in
sedentary fauna and flora have been recorded in the condenser outfall area. The
poor phytoplankton species diversity in the mangrove estuaries of Tuticorin is due
to the influence of the impact of direct mixing of thermal effluents.

On the sandy shores, where the impact of the thermal plume is observed, Emerita
asiatica seemed to be the first order impact organisms. There was also a marked
reduction of biota upto a few kilometers on the adjacent shores. When the ambient
temperature ranged between 37.0 and 37.6°C, almost all the macro-epifauna and
epifocal perished, except for Periwinkles and Barnacles.

The nuclear power plants at Kalpakkam aNd Koodankulam in Tamilnadu poses a

dreadful threatening to the people living around the radius of 170km. If any
accident occurs, the lives would be doomed. The increase in usage of nuclear
energy for the 37 production of power has increased the amount of radioactive
wastes. During the power plant operations, tritium is routinely released into the
environment from the reactors, through atmospheric and liquid discharge routes.
Although tritium occurs in nature (formed by the action of cosmic rays on the
earth’s atmosphere), nuclear installations are, by far, the greatest source of tritium
in the environment. The nuclear industry insists that such releases pose no risk to
the public, but there is mounting evidence linking tritium emissions with birth
defects and cancers.

Oil pollution In Tamilnadu, various activities responsible for oil pollution in the
coastal and marine environment are exploration, refining, transport, spills and
leakages from ships and fishing trawlers and form petro chemical industries. The
places with such activities and their magnitude are presented in Table 2.4.
Table 2.4. Activities related to coastal oil pollution in Tamilnadu

No. Activity - Area Other details

1. Oil exploration (drilling wastes, production wastes and sanitary wastes)

-Cauvery delta, Palk bay Offshore and near shore

2. Oil production (same as above and free emulsion tank bottom sludge etc)
-Koilkalapai, Narimanam, Bhuvanagiri 25000 to 30000 BBL/ d

3. Oil transport (ship wastes, tank washings, spills etc) -Chennai and Tuticorin 3
X 106 t/yr

4. Oil refining (oil leaks, spills, effluents tank drawoff etc)- Chennai 5 X 106 t/yr

5. Petro chemical production (by product production and industrial wastes)-

Chennai, Gulf of Mannar 75000 – 1 lakh t/yr ->

The dissolved Petroleum hydrocarbon in the Pichavaram mangrove waters

(Parangipettai) ranged from 5 to 15ug/l and in Kodiakkarai (Point Calimere) from 8
to 20ug/l. In Chennai, values ranging from 4ug/l to 108ug/l in water and from 1.5
to 3.5ug/g dry weight of sediments were reported. The values recorded along the
Tamil Nadu coast are slightly less than those recorded in other parts of the world.
Thus, at 38 present levels, they do not pose any threat to marine life. However,
intensification of oil exploration in the Palk Strait will cause concern. The Gulf of
Mannar region forms a part of the one of the oil tanker routes. Continuous
monitoring of Cauvery delta to establish a scientific data base and to assess the
environmental impact and degradation are urgently needed.

Pesticide pollution

Pesticides that are transported to the aquatic environments are primarily of

agricultural origin. The agriculture return flow and drainage constitutes the main
pathways of transport of pesticides from arable to the soil to the coastal marine
environment. The fate of pesticide in the coastal environment may i) degrade into
non-toxic by products by microbial actions and chemical reactions, ii) persist in
solutions or get absorbed to particulate matter for extended period, iii) get
deposited in sediments, iv) concentrated in certain organisms (bio-accumulation)
and v) get propagated through trophic chain (bio-magnification).

The most commonly used pesticides are HCH, Lindane, Endosulfan, Heptachlor,
Malathion, Parathion and Monocrotophos. In addition, DDT is still used in significant
amounts for sanitation purposes. Pesticides recorded in Tamil Nadu coastal waters
include DDT, Lindane (r-HCH), Endosulfan and Heptachlor. The Chennai waters had
higher values than the Parangipettai waters. Higher values have been recorded in
Parangipettai sediments, than in Chennai. Analysis of pesticide residues in marine
fish revealed that the highest concentrations were found in Pomfret followed by
Tuna and Mackerel. However, their concentration was well below the permissible
level to be a potential hazard to human health. The available published data
indicate that the coastal marine waters of Chennai are highly polluted than other
areas of Tamilnadu. Overall, the coastal waters of Tamilnadu are less polluted
compared to other coastal states.

Aquacultural pollution

Aquaculture waste management has become a very serious issue. The majority of
the farms use source water as a dumping ground for waste discharge. Raw
effluents rich in organic matter and waste feed are released directly into water
sources without any treatment or settlement. There are no community joint
agreements on coordinated arrangements for water intake and effluent discharge.
This has led to problems connected with disease transmission and bad water
quality, and little attention is being given to pond drying, disinfection and waste
removal between crops.

Shrimp farming are done in coastal districts of Chengalpattu, Cuddalore, Thanjavur,

Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin and
Kanyakumari. There are about 1200 such aquaculture farms in Tamilnadu. Sirkali
taluk, in Nagapattinam Quaid-e-Millet district in Tamil Nadu, for example, has seen
extensive conversion of 2000 ha. of prime agricultural land into 150 shrimp farms.

The effluents let out of these farms containing bio-degradable wastes are not
properly treated in many cases and hence pollute groundwater in adjoining areas,
even upto a distance of 6 km. affecting agriculture. Added to this, a majority of the
shrimp farms have been flouting environmental guidelines by discharging untreated
effluents into the neighbouring Poromboke lands.

The waste water produced during the post-harvest cleaning operations of shrimp
farms can have a much greater impact on the ecology of the open waters, although
it may be for a shorter period. Similarly, the impact can be significant where large
numbers of shrimp farms are established in areas with poor flushing capacity.

The main environmental concerns in the shrimp farming sector are about the
increased levels of nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus and excess
quantities of suspended solids and particulate organic matter in the waste water
released from the farms. While there has been much discussion on the impact of
aquaculture waste water on the environment, there is paucity of time-series data to
scientifically correlate the adverse impact of shrimp farm wastes on the ecology of
the open waters.

The nutrient levels and suspended solids in the waste water of shrimp farms
practicing improved traditional and extensive methods are within the accepted
norms and much less when compared with the waste water generated from the
domestic sector and the fish processing units (Table 2.5).

Table 2.5. Comparison of waste water generated from shrimp farm with domestic
and industrial waste water

Parameters shrimp farm waste water domestic waste water effluent from fish processing plant

untreated primary treatment biological treatment BOD (mg/l) 4.0 - 10.2 300 200 30 2000-
4000 Total N (mg/l) 0.03 - 5.06 75 60 40 700-4530 Total P (mg/l) 0.05 - 2.02 20
15 12 120-298 Solids (mg/l) 119 - 225 500 -- 151 880-7475
Potential Hot Spots along the coast in Villupuram district

The time has come now to identify and conserve wet lands of Kaluveli Swamp that
has an important ecological value. Efforts must be taken to presume this swamp in
order to revive different species of water birds. There have been one potential hot
spots of Vanur in this district.

Hot spot in Nagapattinam district

Vedaranyam is the only potential hot spot along the east coast in this district. The
coastal areas of district are of marine origin since they are in contact with sea,
backwaters, lagoons, swamps, etc. The area around Vedaranyam is especially of
very poor quality in nature. The highly saline and brackish water occurs at all levels
partly by the influence of swamps and partly due to the deeper cretaceous
formation. In the N-E portion of the district, heavy extraction of groundwater
through filter points has resulted intrusion of salt water from the nearby marine
deposits. These are noticed in the villages of Mangaimadam, Kollur and Tirunaganai
of Sembanarkoil blocks. Parameters Shrimp farm waste water Domestic waste
water Effluent from fish processing plant Untreated Primary treatment Biological
treatment BOD (mg/l) 4.0 - 10.2 300 200 30 2000-4000 Total N (mg/l) 0.03 - 5.06
75 60 40 700-4530 Total P (mg/l) 0.05 - 2.02 20 15 12 120-298 Solids (mg/l) 119
- 225 500 -- 151 880-7475 41 M/s.ONGC has explored crude oil and natural gas in
Nagapattinam district. The crude oil is made available for Madras refineries limited
whereas natural gas is utilised as fuel in ten nos. of sodium silicate units. Also this
gas is utilised as a fuel for one thermal power generation unit (2X5 MW) by TNEB in
this area. One SIDCO Industrial Estate is located at Nagapattinam. The industrial
units in these estates are non-polluting or less polluting in nature.

Hot spot in Thanjavur district:

There are 490 industrial units situated in the composite Thanjavur district, of which,
4 sugar units, 1 petroleum refinery, 1 distillery, 1 thermal power plant are coming
under highly polluting industry.
Hot spot in Pudukottai district

The potential hot spot identified for this district is the seashore at Manalmelkudi.
Industrial growth is not much in this district. One SIPCOT complex near Pudukottai
is functioning in an extent of 412 acres and one SIDCO estate is functioning in
Madur. Coastal waters do not face any serious problems from discharge of domestic
or industrial waste at present.

Hot spot in Thirunelveli district

Madura coats and Sun paper mills are the major industries located in this district.
Effluents from these mills are being led in to the Thamiraparani River. The public
sector companies (TNSTC) located in Tirunelveli, Papanasam and Tenkasi
discharged the effluents into the Thamiraparani and Chitaru.

The planning of monitoring hot spots is to understand the nature and extent of
pollution load in the waterways. Pollution comes from non-point sources and also
from point sources. Creation of a database will be helpful in taking precautionary
measures and prevention of deterioration of water quality.