Tragedi Minamata di Mumbai (dulu bernama Bombay), India/ Minamata tragedy in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India FOR GENERAL HISTORY
Tragedi Minamata di Mumbai (dulu bernama Bombay), India
(Sumber: Asia/ Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO. Asian/ Pacific Co publication Programe. Air di Negara Asia Psifik. Ekologi.)
Minamata adalah suatu dusun nelayan kecil di Jepang yang menjadi terkenal karena mengalami dampak polusi air yang amat tragis. Situasi yang sama juga dialami Sungai Kalu di India Barat. Kalu adalah sebuah sungai kecil yang mengalir melewati beberapa industry di pinggiran kota Bombay (kini Mumbai), sebelum bermuara ke Laut Arab, 50 kilometer di utara Bombay. Sepanjang aliran yang pendek itu terdapat lebih dari 150 industri yang membuang limbahnya ke sungai.
Institute Sains di Bombay melakukan penelitian pada air sepanjang 10 kilometer, mulai dari Ambivali sampai Titwala, di mana limbah pabrik rayon (serat tekstil sintetis), pabrik kertas, pabrik bahan pewarna, dan pabrik kimia mengalir ke dalam sungai. Mereka menemukan bahwa metal yang ada (termasuk merkuri, timah, tembaga, dan kadminium), klorida, zat pewarna, asam dan garam organic sudah sampai pada tahap yang membahayakan. Ketua tim penelitian, Dr. B. C. Haldar, menyatakan bahwa kandungan merkuri dari limbah yang terdapat di Sungai Kalu sama banyak dengan yang ada di tengah Teluk Minamata.
Ini baru awal masalah. Metal itu sebagian besar tidak larut dalam air sehingga akan mengendap ke dasar dan menumpuk dalam lumpur di dasar sungai. Bakteri di dalam endapan mengubah merkuri yang tidak larut menjadi metil merkuri yang larut yang bersifat racundan dapat diserap oleh makhluk hidup. Dengan cara ini, merkuri menjadi bagian dalam rantai makanan, ikan tercemar dan ternak yang memamah rumput yang tumbuh di sekitar sungai juga teracuni merkuri. Seorang anak yang minum susu sapi itu dengan cepat akan menumpuk kandungan merkuri yang amat tinggi di dalam tubuh mereka.
Maka beberapa gejala keracunan merkuri muncul. Keadaan seperti kejang erta sawan yang aneh, rasa lesu, kerusakan penglihatan serta pendengaran, mati rasa dan keadaan gila telah dilaporkan terjadi. Demikianlah, desa Ambivali mengalami keracunan merkuri yang sama dengan Minamata.
Pengaruh kaum industry ternyata sangat kuat sehingga petugas resmi yang bertugas memelihara dan mengawasi sungai itu mengalami kesulitan untuk mengendalikan kegiatan industry di sepanjang sungai itu. Satu-satunya cara untuk mencegah polusi berkepanjangan di perairan di Bombay dan untuk membersihkan Sungai Kalu adalah melalui pengaruh public. Inilah tantangan besar yang dihadapi oleh masyarakat sadar lingkungan di Bombay.
Minamata tragedy in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India
(Source: Asia / Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO. Asian / Pacific Co. publication programe. Water in the Pacific Asian countries. Ecology.)
Minamata is a small fishing village in Japan who became famous due to the impact of water pollution is very tragic. The same situation is true for Kalu river in western India. Kalu is a small river that flows through some of the industry on the outskirts of the city of Bombay (now Mumbai), before it empties into the Arabian Sea, 50 kilometers north of Bombay. Throughout the short streams there are more than 150 industries that dump waste into the river.
Institute of Science in Bombay conducts research on water along 10 kilometers, from Ambivali to Titwala, where the plant waste rayon (synthetic textile fibers), paper mills, dye plants, and chemical plants flow into the river. They found that the existing metal (including mercury, lead, copper, and kadminium), chloride, dyes, acids and organic salts has reached the dangerous stage. Research team leader, Dr. B. C. Haldar, stating that the mercury content of the waste contained as much as the Kalu river in the middle of Minamata Bay.
This is just the beginning of the problem. Metal is mostly insoluble in water so it will sink to the bottom and accumulate in the mud at the bottom of the river. Bacteria in the sediments transform insoluble mercury into methyl mercury that is soluble racundan can be absorbed by living things. In this way, the mercury becomes part of the food chain, contaminated fish and cattle chew grass growing around the river are also poisoned by mercury. A child who drinks milk cows would quickly accumulate very high levels of mercury in their bodies.
So some of the symptoms of mercury poisoning appear.Circumstances such as seizures erta strange convulsions, feeling lethargic, impaired vision and hearing, numbness and crazy circumstances have been reported. Thus, the village suffered mercury poisoning Ambivali similar to Minamata.
The influence of the industry was very strong that the official in charge of maintaining and overseeing the river was difficult to control the activities of industry along the river. The only way to prevent pollution in the waters prolonged in Bombay and to clean up the river Kalu is through public influence. This is the major challenge faced by environmentally conscious people in Bombay.
(Source: Asia / Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO. Asian / Pacific Co. publication programe. Water in the Pacific Asian countries. Ecology.)
Minamata is a small fishing village in Japan who became famous due to the impact of water pollution is very tragic. The same situation is true for Kalu river in western India. Kalu is a small river that flows through some of the industry on the outskirts of the city of Bombay (now Mumbai), before it empties into the Arabian Sea, 50 kilometers north of Bombay. Throughout the short streams there are more than 150 industries that dump waste into the river.
Institute of Science in Bombay conducts research on water along 10 kilometers, from Ambivali to Titwala, where the plant waste rayon (synthetic textile fibers), paper mills, dye plants, and chemical plants flow into the river. They found that the existing metal (including mercury, lead, copper, and kadminium), chloride, dyes, acids and organic salts has reached the dangerous stage. Research team leader, Dr. B. C. Haldar, stating that the mercury content of the waste contained as much as the Kalu river in the middle of Minamata Bay.
This is just the beginning of the problem. Metal is mostly insoluble in water so it will sink to the bottom and accumulate in the mud at the bottom of the river. Bacteria in the sediments transform insoluble mercury into methyl mercury that is soluble racundan can be absorbed by living things. In this way, the mercury becomes part of the food chain, contaminated fish and cattle chew grass growing around the river are also poisoned by mercury. A child who drinks milk cows would quickly accumulate very high levels of mercury in their bodies.
So some of the symptoms of mercury poisoning appear.Circumstances such as seizures erta strange convulsions, feeling lethargic, impaired vision and hearing, numbness and crazy circumstances have been reported. Thus, the village suffered mercury poisoning Ambivali similar to Minamata.
The influence of the industry was very strong that the official in charge of maintaining and overseeing the river was difficult to control the activities of industry along the river. The only way to prevent pollution in the waters prolonged in Bombay and to clean up the river Kalu is through public influence. This is the major challenge faced by environmentally conscious people in Bombay.
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