Kerala PCB issues guidelines for industries to implement Online Consent Effluent & Emission Monitoring System

The Kerala Pollution Control Board (“Kerala PCB”) has issued Guidelines for implementation of Online Consent Effluent & Emission Monitoring System.

 

Key Highlights:

 

• With a view to achieve ‘Ease Of Doing Business’ (“EODB”) policy, the Kerala PCB implement Online Effluent and Emission Monitoring System and transfer reliable data on compliance to regulatory authority namely, the KSPCB / Central Pollution Control Board (“CPCB”);

 

• Online Effluent and Emission Monitoring Systems need to be installed and operated by the developers and the industries on ‘polluter pays principle’;

 

• The industries falling in 17 categories of highly polluting industries, common biomedical waste and common hazardous waste incinerators have already installed continuous online monitoring systems as per CPCB guidelines;

 

• The CPCB in its various guidelines for continuous emission / effluent monitoring system had clarified that industries other than 17 categories should consider installation of continuous monitoring systems as a tool of self-regulation;

 

• There is need to expand the OCEEMS base of the Board by bringing maximum industries into continuous online monitoring system;

 

• OCEMS / CEMS consists of real time measuring instrument (called analyser) with analytical data dashboard in the site and Data Acquisition System (“DAS”) for storage and onward transmission to KSPCB / CPCB;

 

• The analyser shall have the features as specified in CPCB guidelines which include:

 

a. Continuous direct measurement of pollutant concentration on 24×7 basis.

b. Shall have type approved certificates as per Indian certificate scheme or certificate from one of the following foreign accredited agencies: USEPA (U S Environmental Protection Agency) TUV which is (Technical Inspection Association) MCERTS (“Monitoring Certificate scheme”) However, the authenticity of the certificates has to be verified with the website of the certification agency.

c. Digital communication with distant computer for data acquisition/ recording/ reporting.

d. Remote calibration facility

e. Should have provision to send alarm to Central server in case any change is made in configuration or calibration.

f. Low operation & maintenance requirements with low chemical consumption and recurring cost of consumables & spares.

 

• Compliance reporting protocol has to be submitted to the Board in the format prescribed in CPCB guidelines;

 

• The analyser should be such that it works on the principle approved by CPCB and has to be installed as per CPCB guidelines only;

 

• Once the system is established, the Board has to validate the system. For this manual sampling and analysis shall be done and then compared with real time values. It gets validated only when manual & real time values are within the accuracy prescribed by CPCB or else have to be recalibrated;

 

• Presently the OCEEMS Central Server of the Board is installed in the State data centre and its control is entrusted with a private agency which has remote access over the system. It is an open API (“Application Programme Interface”). API is a software intermediary that allows two applications to communicate to each other;

 

• The Board shall provide new e-mail for getting auto communications/alerts from the server. The alerts shall be made available in the OCEEMS website for public reference and transparency. A special team shall be constituted by the Board for validation and checking OCEEMS related data. The team shall ensure that the vendor does his part within a reasonable time. The URL for industry registration is: https://keralapcb.glensserver.com.

 

• As a first step action shall be taken to bring the following industries under the OCEMS/CEMS purview:

 

a) Industries with capital investment equal to or greater than 10 crore for red and 15 crore in orange category.

 

b) Hospitals with bed strength (inpatient facility) greater than 500.

 

c) Commercial/Residential apartments requiring Environment Clearance.

 

d) CSTP/CETP/STP with capacity greater than or equal to 100KLD.

 

e) Steel Process Industries irrespective of the investment.

 

• Depending on the type of the industry/unit, the following parameters may be monitored;

 

• The installation shall be completed and compliance protocol reported on or before 31.08.2022 for the industries falling under 17 categories and to those industries to which instructions have already been given in this regard;

 

• For the other industries the time limit is fixed as 31.12.2022 for red category and 30.06.2023 for orange category industries. The District Officer’s shall submit the list of industries falling under the above-mentioned category. Report on compliance shall be submitted by the District Offices by the first week of January, 2023;

 

For a detailed read, please refer to the attached document.

 

Source: Kerala Pollution Control Board