The threat of water contamination looms large as the State-run Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation’s (Omfed) plant at Chandrasekharpur here has been releasing untreated water down the drain. The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has issued a show-cause notice to the dairy firm in this regard. The Omfed authorities have sought 18-month time to sort out the issues.
Notably, the milk producing unit started production in the early 1980s having an effluent treatment plant (ETP) with a capacity to treat 200 kilo litres of water a day. The demand for milk and milk products increased manifold, but the capacity of ETP has not been augmented. Moreover, waste water is discharged untreated as the existing ETP frequently suffers glitches. As per information, the Omfed unit is producing 2.5 lakh litres of milk using 400 kilo litre water every day.
“The effluents are highly toxic which increases the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and decreases the oxygen content when mixed with water sources as a result of which it emanates foul odour. For industrial waste water, the permissible limit of BOD is 30 ml in one litre water. However, the waste water released from the Omfed plant contains three times the BOD level permissible,” OSPCB Regional Officer, Bhubaneswar, Hadibandhu Panigrahi reportedly said. “Omfed Chairman-cum-Managing Director Bishnupada Sethi said, “We have sought time from the OSPCB to comply with the norms, and we are taking measures for capacity expansion of the ETP.”