More than 65 mn litres of burnt oil have contaminated SL soil

By Ifham Nizam

More than 65 million litres of burnt oil had been dumped into the soil in Sri Lanka in recent years, said Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

Minister Amaraweera, speaking with a team of experts yesterday requested a report on the negative impact on the soil. “The Minister asked for the report within a week considering the urgency,” an official said.

Minister also said that there was no awareness among public of the burnt oil use.

He pointed out the need of experts to create a public awareness in that regard.

The Minister also stressed that anything detrimental to the biodiversity could not be taken lightly and it was the utmost duty of every citizen to protect it.

An official said that the concern over soil contamination stems primarily from health risks, from direct contact with the contaminated soil, vapours from the contaminants, or from secondary contamination of water supplies within and underlying soil.

Mapping of contaminated soil sites and the resulting cleanups are time-consuming and expensive tasks, requiring extensive amounts of geology, hydrology, chemistry, computer modeling skills.

Health consequences from exposure to soil contamination greatly vary depending on pollutant type, pathway of attack and vulnerability of the exposed population. Chronic exposure to chromium, lead and other metals, petroleum, solvents, and many pesticide and herbicide formulations can be carcinogenic, can cause congenital disorders, or can cause other chronic health conditions.

Industrial or man-made concentrations of naturally occurring substances, such as nitrate and ammonia associated with livestock manure from agricultural operations, have also been identified as health hazards in soil and groundwater.

Soil contaminants could have significant deleterious consequences for ecosystems, the official stressed.