Water pollution by industrial effluents in India: Discharge scenarios and case for participatory ecosystem specific local regulation

Around the world as countries are struggling to arrive at an effective regulatory regime to control the discharge of industrial effluents into their ecosystems, Indian economy holds a double edged sword of economic growth and ecosystem collapse. This situation if mishandled can cause irreparable ecological harm in the long term well masked by short term economic prosperity. Considering that Industries comply with environmental regulations based on the level of enforcement and their ability to spend for waste treatment, this paper endeavours to sketch probable industrial effluent discharge scenarios under various market-enforcement conditions and proposes possible strategies for effective regulatory regime in India. The authors point out that as India moves towards stricter regulation of industrial effluents to control water pollution greater efforts are required to reduce the risk to public health as toxic pollutants which are mainly colourless and odourless can be expected to be released into the ecosystems. Examples of emerging cases like Tiruppur and Plachimada are presented to assert that ecosystem specific discharge standards is the solution and local communities are ready to participate in environmental decision making to safeguard their resources.