Int’nl conference discusses ways to reclaim contaminated sites

Coimbatore: As many as 100 leading environmentalists from around the world are huddling in the city to discuss about the contaminated sites in India and southeast Asian countries and how best they can be managed.
Organised by renowned environmental contamination scientist Ravi Naidu and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Global Cleanup Congress, which started on Monday, gives scientists from Europe and Asia a platform to discuss all aspects of contaminated site assessment and remediation. “We chose to host this event in Coimbatore because of TNAU’s presence. I had collaborated with TNAU for a research project in 1990s,” said Naidu.

“Seventy per cent of the conference was India focused. In India, there are a wide range of contaminated sites including toxic metal sites, toxic organic sites, gas work sites, tannery waste dumping zones and even historical sites, which have now become potentially contaminated sites,” Naidu told TOI. His research with TNAU was on the impact of tannery waste in Vellore.

Globally, less than 10% of contaminated sites have been cleaned up, Naidu said. “It will not be long before the clean-up bill for the United States alone will be more than a trillion dollars. In terms of significance, I estimate that chemical contamination is five times as large as our climate change impact.”

Four million people die across the world every year due to pollution. “Scientists from countries like UK, North America and New Zealand will share industry best practices to tackle various types of contaminated sites along with insights from international markets,” said S Mahimairaja of TNAU.