Oil spill may trigger long-term environmental problems

Vinaya Deshpande and Meena Menon

The oil leak from MSC Chitra could not have happened at a worse time. This is the breeding season for marine animals, and environmentalists fear that the spill may impact not only the breeding cycle, but also much more in the future if the oil contaminates the sediments and the sea bed.

The spill is set to disturb the entire marine ecosystem, including the mangroves, in turn affecting the livelihood of the coastal population.

Environmentalists have called for a systematic study of the incident.

An ongoing survey by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has revealed that a six-eight inch oil sediment has already reached the shore of four villages on the Mumbai-Raigad coastline.

“Around 20 km coastline of Revas, Mandwa, Sasawne and Kihim has been contaminated,” scientist and head of the BNHS team Deepak Apte, told The Hindu on phone.

“A little contamination has also been found at Alibaug, but it may not necessarily be the oil spill from the leaking ship,” he said. Some oil-coated biscuit packets have also been spotted at the Gateway of India in Mumbai.

The exact impact assessment cannot be done as no one has the accurate information about the contents of the ship. But according to experts, India does not have the technology, the money, or the protocol to clear the slick once it reaches the beach. “The beaches where the oil has reached are virtually permanently damaged now,” Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary Asia, told The Hindu on phone.

“The marine ecology consists of all the small and big living organisms in the sea, the particulate matter and the sediments. There are other living forms like the sea gulls that are dependent on the marine life for survival. Even they are a part of the ecosystem and may stand the risk of being affected,” Professor at the Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai Shyam Asolekar, told The Hindu.

He said the crude oil contained various sizes of particles that affected the ecology in different ways.

“Some float and form a thin layer on the water. These are the particles that are generally cleared. Some get dissolved and absorbed in water. Though their proportion is not much, they are detrimental to the marine ecosystem. Others are volatilized particles that evaporate. They cause toxicity to birds and other living forms outside the marine ecosystem.”

Because the nature and extent of the spill has not yet been completely revealed, it is difficult to assess the impact.

Many environmentalists are upset by the poor risk assessment. Sahgal said the real issue was not the oil leak, but that no one had been told what was in the containers.

“First, we have to establish the content of every container to ensure that there is no life-threatening risk when the dry chemicals mix with water,” he said. “What if there is radioactive material in some of the containers? What is the big secret that the Coast Guard does not want to reveal,” asked one of the agitated environmentalists who did not wish to be named.

The Hindu