All industries should come under one umbrella organisation:

Regular inspections of industries, a pre-requisite

By Ranil Wijayapala

The recent protests by the people living around Rathupaswala in Weliweriya over the contamination of ground water in the area pointing an accusing finger at one BOI company producing rubber gloves was an eye opener for many chemical-based industries in the country.

A significant outcome of this incident is that there is a risk with other chemical- based industries set up in Sri Lanka which might face a similar uprising in time to come if the relevant authorities do not keep a tab on these industries on a regular basis and inspect them and report whether there is an environmental impact.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa following a discussion he had with the people of Weliweriya and also with other stakeholders involved in this incident, directed that the rubber glove manufacturing BOI company should be shifted to another area if the factory is found responsible for the contamination of ground water in the area.

Director of the National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapon Convention in Sri Lanka, Dr. Rohan Perera in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer commenting on the incident in Weliweriya highlighted the importance of inspecting these chemical- based industries in Sri Lanka on a regular basis as it is important not only to avoid any environmental disasters but also to ensure the sustainability of these industries in Sri Lanka.

As a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and on their destruction Sri Lanka also set up a National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapon Convention (NAICWC) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under Act No.58 of 2007 to implement the international convention in Sri Lanka.

The NAICWC has the mandate to periodic inspections of the industries using chemicals to ensure that they adhere to the correct usage of chemicals and also to ensure the release of effluence to the environment causing environmental damage.

According to Dr. Rohan Perera, though investigations were underway to ascertain whether the BOI factory in Rathupaswala is responsible for the contamination of ground water, the absence of baseline data on the Ph level of ground water area at the time of the setting up of the factory makes it difficult to find out whether the factory was directly responsible for the prevailing situation.

“The Central Environment Authority conducts the Environmental Impact Assessment before any industry starts and they are responsible for the issuing environment protection license. When submitting the EPL in 1994 they have not done any soil analysis and there is no information about the ground water Ph values and they have done only an analysis on the number of plants and animals are living in that area. That is the only thing they took into the consideration in 1994. But right now the problem arises due to e ground water samples are highly contaminated ground water due to very high acidic Ph value”, he added.

To prove that the factory is responsible for that we have to make some sort of a tube wells and take ground water samples rather taking water from a well and check whether this particular ground water sample is having higher Ph or lower Ph value.

“The other thing we could do is we can do a certain survey analysis in that particular area by taking the water samples from the vicinity of that region and can go little far away and take water sample form a well and check whether there is Ph level difference between the wells close to the factory and wells little further away from the factory. This is one other solution,” he said.

However, without access to the factory premises it is difficult to come to a proper conclusion.

“So far we have not been given access to the factory to conduct an inspection”, Dr. Perera said.

According to him industries come under the Industrial Development Board and under the Board of Investment.

“We as the National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention under the Ministry of Commerce and industries have the power to inspect any industry in the country and examine whether the right industrial application was being practised ”, he said.

The Chemical Weapons Convention was ratified by 188 countries to make sure that they use chemicals without causing harm to the industry and also without being a threat to national security.

“When we say national security we see these chemicals are not used to manufacture chemical weapons. On the other hand, we also want to ensure that any hazardous material is not released to the environment that would cause the deaths of people within a short period of time. Therefore, national security and preventing industrial pollution is entrusted with us”, he said.

“We inspect industrial zones under the purview of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Basically these are small and medium type enterprises. But large industries are operated under the Board of Investment. Even though we want to go to inspect the industries under the Board of Investment we have to take a special authority from the respective parties and the organisations”, he said.

“Once you apply for approval to inspect the industries to give that authorisation it might take two to three days. By the time most of the industries are aware that we are visiting these organisations, and they could take damage control measures and evade being detected”, he said.

“According to the convention we don’t need any authorisation from the industries. The ID card gives us the authority to enter and check. Basically we check whether they have chemical waste or in other words mass balance”, he said.

“These inspections are good for the industries also, because if they have any problem chemical weapon convention supports those industrialists to correct the problems providing the knowledge and expertise free of charge”, he said.

“Unfortunately these industries are not willing to take our support. Sri Lanka cannot develop without these industries. We have to protect industries which generate foreign exchange and provide employment.

I really don't understand why these industries are not taking it for their advantage get the support from the Chemical Weapon Convention and put the industry into the correct path. Otherwise this kind of unfortunate incidents will never happen", Dr. Perera added .

Citing an example Dr. Perera said the Paranthan Chemicals facility in the Kalutara Industrial Zone which produces chlorine gas for water purification was forced to shut down because of the release of large amounts of chlorine gas into the environment injuring more than 17 people in a nearby village of the Kalutara industrial zone in 2010.

"Unfortunately now we are unable to restart this facility in the Kalutara industrial zone and due to that many lost their jobs and also country faces a severe shortage of chlorine for water purification", he added.

According to Dr. Perera what the Central Environment Authority does is check effluence. They check whether the effluence could be released to the environment. "But industrial inspection is not a possibility. This is the basic problem because some of the industries conceive that they have secret concepts and and are not willing to disclose the manufacturing facility to other countries.

"They can come to the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention with their proposals and discuss with us. We can immediately give assistance. If we don't have the expertise we get foreign assistance. We even assist them in product development and improve the quality of products.