The coastal marine environment around India's 7500 km coastline supports a variety of marine ecosystems including the fragile mangroves and coral reefs. The generic and species diversity existing in some of the marine ecosystems of the Gulf of Mannar (Bay of Bengal) are unique and extremely valuable. Demographic pressure in the urban cities and towns as well as an increase in the rural population and rapid industrialisation have resulted in the production of enormous amounts of waste materials. These wastes reach the marine environment either directly or indirectly through rivers, creeks, bays, posing treat to ecosystems and our coastal resources. The domestic sewage contributes to the largest amount of waste and it has been estimated that approximately 20,000 MLD (Million Litres Per Day) reach the coastal environment of the country. Even though the quantity of these wastes vary from place to place, the chemical characteristics of these almost remain similar. Domestic wastes are discharged mostly in untreated conditions due to the lack of treatment facilities in most of the cities and towns. It has been reported that only primary treatment facilities are available in cities and towns where the population is more than 100,000 and the capacity of the plants is not adequate for the treatment of the total waste generated in the city. For example, in Bombay, as on 1991 the treatment facilities are available only for 390 MLD as against 1200 MLD of domestic sewage generated. Due to such partial treatment, the chemical characteristics of the waste water retain almost their original features and cause severe damage to the water quality.

Major industrial cities and towns of the country such as Surat, Bombay Cochin, Madras, Visakhapatnam and Calcutta are situated on or near the coastline. The industrial sources discharge about 18,77311 kiloliters/day.


Monitoring of Marine Pollution:

The Department of Ocean Development is the nodal department of scientific monitoring of marine pollution in the seas around India. Under this programme the Department has been carrying out systematic collection of data on the levels of several chemical elements, including pollutants such as toxic heavy metals and pesticides. The data collected will be subjected to the modelling studies in order to quantify the transport rates of significant chemical elements in the sea so that at a given period the residence time and ultimate fate of the pollutants can be predicted and their behaviour in the marine environment of thoroughly understood. Such studies will be useful in the activities related to prevention and control of pollution.


Objectives

The main objectives of the programme are as under:

1.To establish a knowledge base in the field of bio-geochemical parameters in the coastal shelf and open seas.

2. To operate an appropriately structured information system for ready dissemination of various data sets to users in Government, industry, research and social institutions.

3. To conceptualize and implement R&D programmes that will continually update the knowledge and information bases and develop analytical frameworks for the quantification of transport rates and inputs of various chemical elements to different reservoirs and to the sea; characterizing the ecosystem and assessing its digestive capacity and in turn delineating policy options and facilitating decision processes in the wake of changing regimes.

4. To provide advisory and technical services to Government, industry and public institutions aimed at evolving pollution containment measures.

5. To detect radical changes in the bio-geochemical regimes of the marine system and to alert Government, public and social institutions of their implications.

6. To set standards for the measurement of various pollution parameters and to ensure compatibility between the data acquired and processed by various monitoring agencies through definition of equipment specifications, periodic intercalibration exercises, planned cross-checks and training programmes.


Institutional Support

An Apex Coordinating Centre at the Regional Centre, National Institute of Oceanography, Bombay, supported by 11 Units, will cover the entire coast of the country, including the two island groups.

DOD Centre/Unit Area of Monitoring

Central Salt & Marine Kandla to Dwarka Chemical Research Institute, (CSMCRI -Bhavnagar)

Regional Centre, National Okha to Ratnagiri Institute of Oceanography, (RC, NIO, Bombay).

National Institute of Ratnagiri to Manglore NewOceanography,(NIO, Goa).

Regional Centre, National New Mangalore to Cochin Institute of Oceannography, (RC, NIO, Cochin).

Centre of Earth Science Cochin to Cape Comorin Studies, (CESS, Trivandrum).

Central Electrochemical Cape Comorin to Mandapam Research Institute, (CECRI, Karaikudi)

Central Electrochemical Mandapam to Krishnapatnam. Research Institute (CECRI, Madras).

Regional Centre, National Krishnapatnam to Kalingapatnam. Institute of Oceanography, (NIO, Waltair).

Regional Research Laboratory, Kalingapatnam to Digha Bhubaneshwar (RRL, Bhubaneshwar)

Zonal Office, Central Digha to Bangladesh Border Pollution Control Board, Calcutta. (CPCB, Calcutta)


Monitoring Locations Including Hot Spots:

A thorough survey of pollution sources along the coastline of our country in the past years by the COMAPS programme indicated that there are 77 locations along the coastline of the country need annual monitoring. Out of this in 25 locations the pollution levels have been found to be increasing. In order to intensively monitor the pollution levels in and around these locations by the COMAPS Centres, a programme on intensive monitoring of Hotspots is operational since 1992-93. The data collected will be disseminated to the concerned Pollution Control Boards for legal/remedial action.


Parameters being monitored :

Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, suspended solids, BOD, inorganic phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, total phosphorous, total nitrite, total organic carbon, petroleum hydrocarbons, pathogenic Vibro, pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae ( E. Coli, Salmonella, Shigella and heavy metals like cadmium, lead, mercury and pesticide residues (DDT, BHC and Endosulfan).


Intercalibration Exercises

In order to ensure high precision in the results, periodical intercalibration exercises on chemical parameters, particularly nutrients and heavy metals, are conducted every 6 months. Those who report deviated results (errors more than 15%) undergo a thorough in-house vigorous training on methodology with failure analysis to improve their results.


Dissemination of Data and Information

The Apex Centre at RC, NIO, Bombay, is equipped to process the data collected by the itself and those received from the other Units. The data is used to generate information on the status of pollution along with important ecologically sensitive zones, urban areas, etc. Whenever an alarming trend of pollution in a particular area is noted, it is brought to the notice of the Pollution Control authorities for appropriate action. The data generated is also subjected to modelling techniques to understand the behaviour of pollutants.