CEA to claim damages from Coca Cola

Report on Kelani River contamination out soon:

by Lalin Fernandopulle

The report on the assessment of the damage caused to the environment by the alleged discharge of pollutants into the Kelani River by the Coca Cola Company on August 17 will be released soon and the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) will claim damages from the company, CEA Chairman Prof. Lal Dharmasiri told the Sunday Observer last week.

The CEA chairman refuting allegations that the authorities had been bribed by the company and that it had not been compensated for the actual damage, said that the company had paid the costs incurred by the CEA, the Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) for the removal of the pollutants and other expenditure, amounting to around Rs. 134 million.

He said the study on the alleged pollution is being carried out by a senior environmental economist of the Sri Jayewardenepura University and added that the report will be brought to the public domain within a couple of weeks.

The Coca Cola company has so far responded positively and has assured that it will take all precautionary measures to avert the recurrence of such an incident in the future.

In a statement the company said it has complied with the additional requirements of the conditional licence within the stipulated time and continues to run the plant in accordance with the Environment Protection Licence.

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka has been in operation in Sri Lanka for over 50 years and reaffirm its commitment to the country and the consumers.

Environmentalists say that this is not the first time that a multinational company had polluted the environment.

There had been many instances in the past and that there were no stern measures taken by the authorities to penalise them. The authorities were bribed in the past and we hope the new government which is banking on good governance will take steps to penalise the culprits and prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

The CEA chairman said according to the Central Environmental Act of 1980, the maximum penalty that could be imposed by the Court on a company that has obtained CEA licence is Rs. 100,000 while the minimum is Rs. 10,000.

“We are in the process of amending the Act and the CEA is discussing the matter with the authorities.

The amended Act will give the CEA more teeth with stringent measures to deal with major incidents of pollution in the country,” Prof. Dharmasiri said.

He said the ‘Polluter Pay Principle’ adopted in many countries will be implemented following the amendment that will help bring down environmental pollution drastically. The polluter will be charged according to the volume of waste discharged to the environment.

In Parliament last week, Chief Opposition Whip Anura Kumara Dissanayake queried from the government the measures taken regarding the Coca Cola company for allegedly polluting the Kelani River and that the investigations into the incident were not conducted properly.

He said the substance that leaked into the river was a poisonous chemical known as 4-Methylimidazol as identified by the tests conducted in India.

Environmentalists point out that around 1,900 litres of this chemical had leaked to the river. Dissanayake said according to residents in the area the company had released waste water to the river without adhering to proper regulations and that it cannot be considered as an accidental leak. Responding to the allegations, Minister of Water Supply and Water Management Rauff Hakeem said investigations had revealed that the water in the Kelani River contained only traces of furnace oil. He said the contamination of water allegedly by Coca-Cola Company had caused various government institutions an expenditure of Rs. 134 million. It had cost the National Water Supply and Drainage Board Rs 131.2 million, the Central Environment Authority Rs 1.3 million and the Marine Environment Conservation Authority Rs 1.5 million.

The Minister said the Coca Cola company had reimbursed these amounts to the three institutions.

He also said the environment licence had been reissued to the company conditionally, where it would have to ensure environment-friendly waste disposal methods.

Dissanayake questioned as to what kind of compensation people who consumed the water would get and what precautions the government had taken to prevent contamination in the future.

Minister Hakeem assured that Ambatale and Biyagama pumping stations had obtained ISO certification and water in the Kelani River would be examined at 12 points.

The CEA Chairman said the CEA moved into action no sooner it was informed of the incident and found that there was seepage of waste to the Kelani River.

The Water Board thereafter stopped releasing water from the Ambatale intake.