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Union Carbide’s Factory in Bhopal:
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The
following report, written in May 2001, details the recent history of
the extensive toxic contamination at Union Carbide’s Bhopal factory
and its impact on local communities. For
a fuller history of contamination going back to 1982, two years before
the disaster, and for Carbide's early attempts to obfuscate the issue,
see here. No your
eyes are not deceiving you. Dow-Carbide wants its victims to pay for
cleaning up its mess. |
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Over the last two years,
several incidents of massive fire inside the premises of Union Carbide's
derelict Bhopal factory have made the communities in the plant's vicinity
as apprehensive of the risks upon their lives and health as they were
in the years prior to the December 1984 disaster. The latest fire, which
took place on March 21st 2001, swept over several acres of the site
and damaged 32 houses in Atal Ayub Nagar. It so happens that there is
more to dread than the possibility of these communities of closely built
houses being razed to the ground: the factory site is severely contaminated
with dumped chemicals, and it is possible that some of these combusted
in the rising heat and fire.
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Chemicals
dumped by Union Carbide management in and around the factory from 1969
to 1984
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S.No
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Chemical
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Amount
|
Use in
factory
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Nature
of original pollution
|
|
1
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Methylene
Chloride
|
100
MT
|
Solvent
|
Air
|
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2
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Methanol | 50 MT | Solvent | Air |
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3
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Ortho-idichlorobenzene | 500 MT | Solvent | Air, Water, Soil |
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4
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Carbon tetrachloride | 500 MT | Solvent | Air |
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5
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Chloroform | 300 MT | Solvent | Air |
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6
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Tri methylamine | 50 MT | Catalyst | Air |
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7
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Chloro benzyl chloride | 10 MT | Ingredient | Air, Water, Soil |
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8
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Mono
chloro toluene |
10 MT | Ingredient | Air, Water, Soil |
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9
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Toluene | 20 MT | Ingredient | Air, Water, Soil |
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10
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Aldicarb | 2 MT | Product | Air, Water, Soil |
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11
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Carbaryl | 50 MT | Product | Air, Water, Soil |
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12
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Benzene Hexachloride | 5 MT | Ingredient | Air, Water, Soil |
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13
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Mercury | 1 MT | Water, Soil | |
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14
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Mono methyl amine | 25 MT | Ingredient | Air |
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15
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Chlorine | 20 MT | Ingredient | Air |
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16
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Phosgene | 5 MT | Ingredient | Air |
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17
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Hydro chloric acid | 50 MT | Ingredient | Air, Soil |
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18
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Chloro sulphonic acid | 50 MT | Ingredient | Air, Soil |
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19
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Alpha Naphthol * | 50 MT | Ingredient | Air, Soil |
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20
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Napthalin | 50 MT | Ingredient | Air |
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21
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Chemical waste Tar | 50 MT | Waste | Water, Soil |
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22
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Methyl Isocyanate | 5 MT | Ingredient | Air, Water, Soil |
* During the unsuccessful operation of the alpha-naphthol plant several chemical compounds weighing over 100 MT also caused pollution of soil, water and air.
In 1994, following protests by
activist organizations, Arthur D. Little, acting on behalf of UCIL, retained
the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a government
agency, to assess soil and water contamination within the factory premises.
According to the executive summary of the NEERI report - which remains confidential
to date - the span of the dumping area within the factory grounds was at least
6.4 hectares, or 21% of the total site area. Between 1969 and 1977, byproducts
and wastes were dumped in waste areas situated in the north (Disposal area
- I), east (Disposal area - II) and southeast (Disposal area - III) of the
factory premises. In addition to these disposal areas, storage tanks and their
transfer points, spill and target areas and underground wastewater drains
and pipelines were and continue to be sites of contamination. The NEERI report
concluded that some 17 sites within the factory have been heavily contaminated.
In all probability the dumping of toxic materials continued even after the
factory ceased manufacturing. For example, it has been reported that in 1995
Ortho-dichlorobenzenes - likely used as a carrier for the pesticides manufactured
at the plant - were poured by UCIL directly into the ground by the north perimeter
wall. Residents of Atal Ayub Nagar attested that within a few weeks drinking
water from the community tubewells became yellow and foul tasting.
Pollution outside the factory
In 1977, Union Carbide constructed Solar Evaporation Ponds - covering an area
of 14 hectares - 400 metres north of it's factory. The land was acquired by
the Department of Industries, Madhya Pradesh government, from five farmers
who were paid no compensation. Chemical toxic wastes and by-products were
henceforth also dumped at these sites. Every year during the rainy season
the ponds overflowed and contaminated large areas of farmland surrounding
them. Also, toxic effluents were routinely discharged into an open sewage
drain flowing past Jai Prakash Nagar, a community on the South side of the
factory that was badly affected by the 1984 tragedy.
In 1981 and 1982 several cattle died through exposure to poisonous water in
the SEPs, prompting a formal police complaint. By 1982-83 farmers in the vicinity
of the SEPs were experiencing drastic reduction in the fertility of their
soil due to the overflowing water. Two tubewells dug in the neighborhood of
the SEPs had to be abandoned because of the obnoxious smell and taste of the
water.
According to security working at the factory site, for a period of 3-4 months
in 1995 fountains of chemical wastewater were being pumped into these ponds.
By 1996 management were attempting to cover up the environmental damage caused
by the SEPs: the toxic sludge was all dumped into one pond and covered over
with farm soil, layers of polythene, and finally a concrete cover. The two
other ponds were levelled (during which their black polythene liners were
ruptured). Now, soil has eroded around the concrete covers allowing the surrounding
water to become contaminated with toxic material.
Scientific reports of contamination
In the years after the disaster, persistent complaints of foul smelling and
tasting tube and well water in the communities around the factory prompted
activist organisations to initiate investigations into the possible contamination
of the area.
In early 1990 the Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) contacted
a government Research Centre, including the State Research Laboratory, Bhopal,
regarding analysis of soil and groundwater samples from the vicinity of the
factory site. The BGIA was told that anything connected with Union Carbide
was highly sensitive and required clearance from top officials. Analysis by
independent agencies was pursued instead.
1). In April 1990 the Bhopal Group for Information and Action sent sediment
from the Solar Evaporation Ponds, soil samples taken from near the ponds and
community well water from Jai Prakash Nagar to the Citizen’s Environmental
Laboratory, Boston. The following toxic materials were found in the sediment
sample:
|
Waste
pond- parts per billion
|
|
| Benzene, oxybis | 7, 890 |
| Dichlorobenzenes | 87,500 |
| Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons | 2,340 |
| Phthalates | 9,940 |
| Trichlorobenzenes | 9,410 |
| Trimethyl Trianzintrione | 24,470 |
| 1-Napthalenol | 59,090
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| Additionally,
Dichlorobenzenes and Trichlorobenzenes were found in the soil and water
samples. Phthalates were also found in the soil. |
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2). The same
year the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur
published a report on ‘Assessment of pollution damage due to Solar Evaporation
Ponds at UCIL’. At least nine chemicals that showed their presence as
characteristic peaks in the High Performance Liquid Chromotography used on
samples taken from the SEPs were left unidentified by NEERI. The authors of
the NEERI concluded that the SEPs had not contaminated soil and groundwater,
despite the caveat expressed on page 142: “There are a few organic compounds
which could not be identified and hence the sediment [in the SEPs] cannot
be ruled out to be non-hazardous”.
3). Evidently encouraged by their work, in 1994 Arthur D. Little, promulgators
of Carbide’s sabotage-by-disgruntled-worker theory, retained NEERI, on
behalf of UCIL, to study contamination inside the factory premises. The executive
summary of the confidential report found that over one-fifth of the site had
been used for dumping.
The report noted "high concentration of temik, sevin and lindane".
"In the entire Disposal Area - I" and in "55% of Disposal Area
- II". It found that the concentration of semivolatiles, including sevin,
temik and alpha napthol, was very high at seven sites and moderately high
at ten others. Tellingly, “the concentration of semivolatiles was observed
to be higher at 60cm samples than 30cms in a few locations indicating the
possibility of contamination even at higher depths”. Remedial measures
were recommended for the highly contaminated areas and the need for soil samples
from over one metre of depth was highlighted.
4). In 1991 and 1996 tests on local groundwater taken from 11 tubewells were
carried out by the M.P. Public Health Engineering Department’s State
Research Laboratory. Both studies reported heavy contamination, though the
tests were not concerned with finding specific contaminants. In 1999, the
report from November 1996, which comes under the official secrets act, was
accidentally leaked:
‘On 26 . 11 . ’96 , ten samples were collected from J P Nagar, Atal
Ayub Nagar, Arif Nagar, Chhola and Kainchi Chhola all situated close to the
Union Carbide factory…
"All samples were subjected to both bacteriological and chemical analysis.
The results show that the ground water is contaminated with bacteria and there
is a heavy presence of chemicals. Normally the C O D ( Chemical Oxygen Demand
) value in ground water is zero but the samples tested here had C O D values
between 45 mg/l and 98 mg/l whereas, the WHO has fixed the standard value
of C O D for natural water at 6 mg/l. The high values of C O D found in the
ground water establishes that large amounts of chemicals are dissolved in
it.
Usually C O D can not be brought down by commonly used techniques. When river
water is contaminated with chemicals one has to wait for it to come down and
this problem is controlled in a few days by dilution. With ground water such
a solution is not possible hence, it will be proper to stop these sources.
Water from tubewells in other parts of Bhopal were examined at this laboratory.
However, chemical contamination was found only in these areas. The tubewells
in these areas were tested five years back and at that time too the results
showed chemical contamination. Hence, it is established that this pollution
is due to chemicals used in the Union Carbide factory that have proven to
be extremely harmful for health. Therefore the use of this water for drinking
must be stopped immediately."
Sd. Chief Chemist
State Research Laboratory
Shyamla Hills
Bhopal
High levels of CODs point to contamination with oxidisable material, probably
organic chemical contamination. Shortly after the 1996 study the Bhopal Municipal
Corporation declared over 100 wells in the vicinity of the plant to be ‘unfit
for drinking’. No alternative provision was made.
5). In October 1994 the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board
(MPPCB) wrote to the Director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
(IICT), Hyderabad, requesting him to take up the study for disposal of Sevin
and Napthol tar residues, “about 27 MT” of which were lying at the
Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. An application made in September 1995 by
the MPPCB before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhopal, mentions that “the
following residues and chemicals, some of which may be hazardous, are lying
for final disposal” at the Carbide factory:
1. Sevin tar residue 44.558 MT
2. Napthol tar residue 2.54 MT
3. Inprocess material obtained during 18.386 MT
dismantling of Formulation plant
4. Material from dumping site (illegible)
The application does not mention the HCH lying in the godowns. In April 1996,
an analysis of hazardous materials carried out by NEERI and the IICT - insisted
upon by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - was presented before the
sessions judge, Bhopal:
|
Metals
|
Sevin
waste
|
AlphaNapthol
waste
|
|
(mg/kg)
|
(mg/kg)
|
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| Chromium |
26.8
|
42.3
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| Copper |
40.64
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7.35
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| Lead |
22.26
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4.88
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| Zinc |
28.73
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17.05
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| Manganese |
487.25
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67.66
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| Nickel |
20.85
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31.44
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| Cadmium |
1.247
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BDL
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Organic
chemicals
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Sevin tar
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Napthol
tar
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(mg/kg)
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(mg/kg)
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| Volatile matter |
3.07
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2.85
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| Napthol content |
12.1
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23.18
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| Carbyl content --- |
-
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49.38
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6). In 1999 Greenpeace
International undertook the collection of 33 samples of soil and 22 samples
of groundwater from in and around the factory site. After analysis of the
samples, Greenpeace declared the site a “global toxic hotspot” (The
Bhopal Legacy, Greenpeace Research Laboratories, University of Exeter, Nov.
’99). They found heavy concentrations of carcinogenic chemicals and heavy
metals like mercury. Mercury was found at between 20,000 to 6 million times
the expected levels: and elemental mercury was discovered to be widely distributed
across the plant premises (Mercury was originally used in the Sevin plant
as a sealant in the pan filters, but this doesn’t explain it’s dispersal
over such a large area).
Twelve volatile organic compounds, most greatly exceeding EPA standard limits,
were found to have seeped and continue to seep into the water supplies of
an estimated 20, 000 people in the local area. VOCs were registered in the
following quantities in a water well of the Atal Ayub Nagar community in Bhopal,
just north of the Union Carbide factory:
|
Chemical
compound
|
No.
of times greater than EPA limits
|
Chief
effects on health
|
| 1, 2-Dichlorobenzene |
5
|
Reported to induce anaemia, leukemia, skin lesions, vomiting, headaches, weight loss, yellow atrophy of the liver, kidney damage and chromosomal aberrations. |
| 1, 4-Dichlorobenzene |
11 |
|
| Tetrachloroethene |
9 |
Shown to increase risk of leukemia, bladder cancer, oesophogal cancer, cervical cancer, skin cancer and liver and kidney tumours. |
| Trichloroethene |
50 |
Drinking small amounts may cause liver and kidney damage, nervous system effects, impaired immune function and impaired foetal development in pregnant women. |
| Chloroform |
260 |
Has a carcinogenic effect on the liver, kidneys and/or intestine. Causes miscarriages and lowers sperm counts. |
| Carbon Tetrachloride |
682 |
According to the EPA (’97) can cause cancer. High exposure can cause liver, kidney and central nervous system damage, including the brain. Causes headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. In severe cases coma and even death can occur. |
Three water wells in this
community, northeast of the factory, were discovered to have the most severe
contamination. This can partly be explained by the movement of groundwater
being in a northeasterly direction (NEERI, 1990). Other wells, though not
as severely contaminated, also showed elevated levels of toxic chemicals.
Greenpeace concluded that their investigation demonstrated “extensive
and, in some cases, severe chemical contamination of the environment surrounding
the former Union Carbide plant. As a result of the ubiquitous presence of
contaminants, the exposure of the communities surrounding the plants to complex
mixtures of hazardous chemicals continues on a daily basis… long-term
chronic exposure to mixtures of toxic synthetic chemicals and heavy metals
is also likely to have serious consequences for the health and survival of
the local population.” They emphasised the need for an internationally
verified survey and decontamination programme for the factory and the surrounding
area.
The executive summary of the report is at: http://www.bhopal.net/gpexecsummary.html
Petitioning of official agencies
Since 1990 successive Prime Ministers, State Chief Ministers, Ministries of
Environment and Chemicals and Fertilizers and the M.P. Pollution Control Board
have been contacted about the issue of serious contamination around the Union
Carbide factory. By late 1991 survivors’ organisations had taken up the
issue and repeated demands are still being made by them for a proper investigation
of the contaminated site and for clean up costs to be provided by Union Carbide.
Official 'actions'
In the Annual shareholders meeting of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) USA
in April 1990, Marco Kaloften of the Citizen’s Environmental Laboratory,
Boston raised the issue of contamination of soil and community wells. He asked
for a schedule for the clean up of toxic materials by Union Carbide. Mr. Robert
Kennedy, CEO UCC requested Mr. Kaloften to pass on the information to Mr.
C.C. Smith, Vice President of Health, Safety and Environment. In February
1991 New Scientist, while reporting the issue of contamination around the
Union Carbide factory, mentioned that UCC hoped to commission Arthur D. Little
to evaluate ways of decontaminating and reclaiming land affected. Eventually,
in 1994, NEERI were commissioned by Arthur D. Little to conduct the confidential
analysis reported above. No concrete action resulted.
In September 1994 the MPPCB set up a Committee for safe disposal of tar residues
of M/S. UCIL, Bhopal. The meeting concluded that the two options to be investigated
for disposal would be I. Incineration II. Biodegradation. The committee noted
that “extremely toxic dioxines can get formed by low temperature incineration”.
The MPPCB wanted to entrust the IICT and NEERI with the work of evolving a
methodology for the safe disposal of the tar residues. But in November 1995,
after two applications were moved before the CJM, permission to take samples
or shift the residues was denied the MPPCB.
In 1996 the Department of Gas Relief and Rehabilitation, Govt. M.P., clearly
mentioned in the Action Plan - II (1996-2001) that alternate supply of drinking
water was required for the communities adjacent to the factory in view of
groundwater pollution. A grant of 8.5 crores was requested from the central
govt. for this. In 1997, 250 tube wells in the area were declared to be "unfit
for drinking" by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, though the wells were
not capped and no alternative supply was made available. In January 1998 Dr.
Bhagirath Prasad, Secretary, Dept. of Gas Relief along with other officials,
visited three of the contaminated communities. Dr Prasad recommended that
samples of water from the hand pumps be sent for laboratory testing. No such
testing has been undertaken.
In June 1999 two members of the Gas Relief State Level Advisory Committee
(including the former Mayor of Bhopal Dr R.K. Bisariya), a senior journalist
and a member of the CPI visited the factory site for a report on the chemicals
to be found around the site. A letter was sent to the Chief Minister making
the following recommendations:
1. The polluted water supplied to the gas-affected bastis of the region
should be stopped and arrangements be made to supply safe and pure drinking
water immediately.
2. All explorations be made about the legal possibilities of framing criminal
charges against UCIL on the issue of environmental damages and actions be
taken accordingly.
3. Action be taken against those officials in the MPPCB and Dept of Gas Relief
and Rehabilitation who have been functioning with informed negligence in the
past.
4. The government immediately take over the work of disposal of stored and
buried chemicals to safeguard human life, health and environment.
The Chief Minister, Chairman of the Gas Relief State Level Advisory Committee,
as so often in the past, did not respond.
While the M.P. State government has maintained a long and deliberate official
silence over all reports of contamination, including the 1999 Greenpeace report,
around 2000 they began actively courting the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) for funds to deal with the toxic waste problem. However, in
all official communication with the CIDA, the toxic waste problem was mentioned
only as the chemicals stored in tanks in the plant, godowns and drums –
there was no acknowledgement of the enormous amounts of waste deposited under
the ground, from 1969 onwards, that have been shown to have poisoned soil
and groundwater over a large area.
Recently, sources leaked to the press claim that On March 19th 2001 three
private companies - Paramount Limited Engineers and Consultants (Baroda),
Allied Furnaces (Mumbai) and AIREFF de Tox Incineration, a Thane-based company
- were approached by the M.P. State government to decontaminate the hazardous
waste inside the factory. The sources said that the IICT had recommended the
names of these three companies to the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board
in mid February 2001. At least one of the companies employ incineration as
their method of decontamination…
Some good news
On August 11, 2000, the Sambhavna Clinic's four community health workers started
an intensive health education campaign in Atal Ayub Nagar, the community most
affected by the contamination. The symptoms that people in this, and other
communities, associate with drinking contaminated water are: abdominal pain,
skin lesions, dizziness, vomiting, constipation, indigestion, and burning
sensations in the chest and stomach. The majority of children in this community
are born seriously underweight, weak, with discolored skin, as well as suffering
from other multi-systemic health problems. Women complain of suppression of
lactation and some stop lactating within one month of giving birth.
Armed with a comprehensive range of 12 posters, the health workers initiated
discussions on the genesis of the problem, the nature of the chemicals and
their known health effects, the role of corporate and government agencies,
and the ways in which communities can protect themselves from this routine
poisoning. The health education meetings that were held twice a week drew
larger and larger numbers of people. During these meetings people expressed
much concern regarding the bio-accumulative and carcinogenic nature of the
chemicals involved. The elders in the community took the initiative in organising
people to pressure the local elected public official on an almost daily basis.
As a result of this community initiative, on September 9, 2000, six tanks
of 10,000 litres capacity each were provided by the Municipal Corporation
(from their budget of 3.5 crores, given by central govt. in 1999). Since then
six to eight tankers bring relatively safer drinking water every day and fill
the tanks installed in the community. The quantity is far from sufficient
and about 20 % of the population still do not have access to tanker water.
Meanwhile, the community's efforts to get a permanent piped water supply -
specified in the money budgeted by the central govt. - continue.
Update:
Nityanand Jayaraman, Greenpeace's toxics campaigner in India, commented in
December 1999: "The contaminated condition of the Union Carbide site
is a prime example of corporate irresponsibility. The fact that Union Carbide
has escaped without cleaning up the site exposes the gaping loophole in the
legal and administrative infrastructure.”
Replying to Greenpeace's allegations in 1999, Union Carbide said it has had
no information regarding the Bhopal plant site since it sold its stock in
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) more than five years ago - neatly avoiding
the fact that it had plenty of information up until 1994. A Union Carbide
statement received by edie says that a 1990 analysis of 100 off-site wells
carried out by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)
found no contamination associated with UCIL operations (see above concerning
the 1990 NEERI report – 100 wells were not examined). Furthermore, the
statement says, UCIL conducted tests in 1992 to determine whether contamination
had migrated off-site into drinking water wells and this data confirmed the
NEERI results (we must assume that the report of these tests is business confidential
because they are not publicly available). Such selective and deceitful referencing
further reveals that Carbide’s drive to evade responsibility for any
of its acts in Bhopal continues without the merest pity for its growing list
of victims.
The govt: In May 2001 we visited the head of the Madhya Pradesh State Research
laboratory in Shyamla Hills to confirm her knowledge since 1991 of serious
water contamination in surrounding communities. She confirmed that all information
contained in the report of 1996 (see above) was correct to the best of her
knowledge. She then questioned where we had obtained the report from: “this
is confidential!”
The next day David Turecamo of ABC Nightline presented the same 1996 report
to MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. Surprised at seeing his own govt’s
confidential report he denied the veracity of it, claiming casually that “this
report has been disproved”. Mr Turecamo was then ushered out of the interview.
V.K. Jain, state Pollution Control Board chairman, widely held responsible
for much of the official circumlocution and denial concerning the contamination
issue (having been pressured at several meeting of MPPCB about it) - and also
thought to be the main agent behind the secret courting of foreign companies
for the clean up of the site - was arrested in Feb 2001. Police were said
to have found around $4.5 million of wealth disproportionate to his known
source of income.
In June 2001, there was confirmation in the Indian press of the Canadian International
Development Agency and World Bank’s involvement in plans to clean up
the site. Hindu Business Line reported, “According to indications, the
total cost involved will be in excess of Rs 200 crore which may be partly
funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other international financial
institutions along with the Madhya Pradesh Government and the Central Government.
The actual cleaning operation, once it takes off, may take two to three years.
The company will take up the job through its subsidiary, R. J. Burnside International
Ltd., through which it provides services in Asian countries.”
According to survivor’s organisations “this deal appears to be helping
the Bhopal survivors but it goes against the very principles that they have
fought for for the last 17 years. As we see it, it is Union Carbide and now
the Dow chemical company [following the merger of the two in february 2001]
that is responsible for the contamination of groundwater and soil in and around
the Bhopal factory. The cost of decontamination must be borne by Carbide/Dow
and they are also liable to pay damages for health injuries caused due to
ingestion of contaminated water by over 5000 neighbourhood residents.”