Odisha has topped the list of States and Union Territories (UTs) with most contaminated sites. As per the data shared by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Odisha has highest 23 contaminated sites followed by Uttar Pradesh (21) and New Delhi (11).
There are 112 sites in India contaminated by toxic and hazardous substances. Besides, there are 168 sites that may be contaminated but require investigation and confirmation. According to the Union Environment Ministry, contaminated sites are delineated areas in which the “constituents and characteristics of toxic and hazardous substances, caused by humans, exist at levels and in conditions which pose existing or imminent threats to human health and the environment.” Contaminated sites may include production areas, landfills, dumps, waste storage and treatment sites, mine tailings sites, spill sites, chemical waste handler and storage sites located in various land uses.
On the direction of the National Green Tribunal (NBT), remediation work has begun to clean up 14 contaminated sites in seven States such as Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The remediation involves cleaning of contaminated media – soil, groundwater, surface water and sediments – by adopting various in-situ or ex-situ clean-up technologies up to a predefined remediation target levels for each identified constituent.
