City worms eat toxins

The lowly earthworm has wrought a miracle in a Naroda village. Under a pilot project undertaken to test the effectiveness of vermiculture technology in removing industrial toxin, nearly 50,000 earthworms were released into a pile of 60,000 tons of toxic sludge in Naroda’s Muthia village a year back.

The earthworms have miraculously consumed nearly all of the industrial waste deposited at the site, rendering the place toxin-free. The scientist overseeing the project says the landfill site can now be used even for agriculture. The project cost about Rs 15 lakh.

“Because of the success of the Muthia project, similar projects are already being undertaken in other parts of Gujarat, such as Amal Khadi in Ankleshwar, Hema Chemicals’ site in Baroda, Valad on the banks of the Sabarmati, Nandesari, and the Mini river, among others,” said Dr Suneet Dabke. He added that the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) will also be a stakeholder now, along with NGOs, industrial bodies and local gram panchayats, in the other projects, most of which will be financed by the reputed global institution, Blacksmith Institute.

Farmers have long known the virtues of vermicompost and regularly used it improve their farms’ productivity. This, however, is the first time that vermiculture technology has been used to clean up toxic industrial sludge.  The project was undertaken by Vadodara-based industrial waste expert, Dr Suneet Dabke. He has been working on vermiculture since 1995 for a doctorate from Gujarat University.