Town Level Assessment of major polluters and pollutants in Alappuzha Town

Abstract

This is part of a Working Paper series that came out of studies and action done by CANALPY, an initiative of the collaboration between Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and the Kerala Institute of Local Administration. The major aim of CANALPY is the rejuvenation of canals through decentralised and participatory social and technological interventions. There have been two academic initiatives so far - a Winter School during November 2017 involving 36 students and a Summer School during May 2018 with 300+ students. Through a decentralised data collection process of the water and sanitation practices of Alappuzha, CANALPY was able to identify solid and liquid waste pollution in the sub-canals as the major impediment to the health of the canal system. During Kerala Floods 2018, CANALPY was also able to quickly deploy a student force to undertake a rapid impact assessment in Kuttanad, one of the worst affected regions. In December 2018, CANALPY organised a Winter School the output from which was an integrated solid and liquid waste management plan for Shadamani canal, one of the subcanals of Alappuzha. This is a report of a town level assessment of major polluters and pollutants in Alappuzha, including management of organic and inorganic waste, and the waste chain cycle. These are abridged versions of the larger reports. The academic reports may be downloaded freely from the CANALPY website, www.canalpy.com