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Aluthwatta villagers demand a halt to polluting sewage plant
View(s):By Mimi Alphonsus
A pungent smell wafts over the village of Aluthwatta in Kandy, the final resting place of tons of garbage coming from all over the district. The villagers are somewhat accustomed to the compost yard, which has been in operation for years, but renewed attempts to start sewage treatment at a unused plant have reinvigorated their efforts to protect their homes.
Villagers said gully bowsers have been entering the plant under the cover of darkness.
Villagers discussing the sewage treatment plant
On July 29 and 30, the villagers protested against the sewage plant and increased garbage being brought to the compost yard, successfully turning away a few trucks.
The bowsers have since stopped, they say, but villagers worry that it’s only a matter of time before they return. “Police threatened to arrest us for obstructing the garbage trucks,” said a villager who was involved in the protest. “But no one understands the depth of our difficulties.”
Local authorities claim sewage treatment has not yet begun, but preparations are underway and materials required for treatment are being delivered.
Cows and dogs feast on the open landfill. Pix by Priyanka Samaraweera
“The hoteliers in the area are stirring up trouble,” said an official at the Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha. “No real harm is posed to the public.”
The Central Province local government commissioner, Chamila Atapattu, said she was taking into account the protesters’ suggestions but that the compost and sewage project could not be completely shut down as government money had already been invested. “We are seeking technical advice from the Peradeniya University and will solve this issue soon,” she said.
The Sunday Times visited the location to inspect the structure.
The landfill is inside a huge dolomite quarry that has been operational for over a decade. The compost yard and sewage treatment next to it are at a high elevation about 200 metres from the Mahaweli River. Right outside the facilities, a black, foul-smelling liquid—likely a byproduct of composting—was collecting on barren land near a culvert that cuts through farms and flows into the Mahaweli.
Villagers claim that when it rains, the black waste overflows into the culvert and makes its way to the river, where villagers fish, bathe and get their water supply from.
Sewage treatment is a complicated process. When done correctly, it does not just involve chemical treatment but also storage in huge septic tanks and ponds. The treated sewage has to be kept for weeks before it can be safely released or reused. At Aluthwatta, however, there does not appear to be such a scale of facilities. Local authorities acknowledged that when it rains the tanks would overflow, but that it was “all right” since they are treating it with chlorine.
Black liquid outside the compost yard and sewage treatment
Moreover, no initial environmental evaluation was done for the compost yard or the sewage treatment plant, which falls on Mahaweli Authority lands. Central Environmental Authority (CEA) officials, who requested anonymity, said the sewage treatment plant was built without obtaining the site clearance certificate from the CEA. As a result, a building plan was not submitted by the local councils that built the plant.
“Now, to operate and start treating sewage, they are seeking an environmental protection licence from us,” the official said. “We are yet to do an inspection and test the sample.”
For the villagers, gully bowsers joining the parade of garbage trucks was the last straw.
Not even 50 metres from the plant are residential homes and coconut groves.
“We have no idea how they have built this treatment plant,” said a villager. “The smell is terrible, and we are worried about diseases,” shared another. “Already we are keeping our children under nets to stop the flies from sitting on them. We won’t let them bring sewage here.” Health officials who requested anonymity said the smell was a huge public nuisance, but they had little power to stop it. Aluthwatta is a relatively underdeveloped area. Villagers mostly do daily wage work, herd animals, and fish. The villagers feel they are being sacrificed for the benefit of other, wealthier areas.
“The garbage comes from all over the Kandy district, but it’s our cows that die and our children that are affected,” said one villager. “We haven’t seen any of the money the Pradeshiya Sabha gets for processing garbage from other areas.”
At the moment the Aluthwatta compost yard handles about 20-25 tons of waste per day, according to the Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha. It is the site for garbage from Kundasale, Gangawatakorale, Kandy, Gampola, and Pathadumbara areas, among others. But, according to the Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha, it does not make a profit, as the cost of running the compost yard is higher than the per-ton fee charged to other Pradeshiya Sabhas to dump waste.
The Central Province has a big waste management problem. This is mainly caused by the high cost of transporting waste to suitable locations and the limited capacity of local dumping grounds. According to the draft of the Greater Kandy Urban Plan, which was done in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, there are plans to “establish a centralised waste management area, focusing on the enhancement of the Aluthwatta waste management site”.
The proposal is to expand the capacity of waste management at Aluthwatta compost yard to 500 tons per day.
For now, plans the authorities have for Aluthwatta may meet with more resistance than they anticipate.
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