The water supply has been suspended to basically all of Colombo – from Kotte to central to Mount Lavinia. I checked the taps and stuff is flowing for now but this sucks.
The news isn’t reporting it directly, but the last source of oil pollution into the Kelani River was a Coca Cola factory there. They were the source of the pollution earlier, so I don’t see who else it would be. Not content to produce something that’s slowly toxic to people, Coca Cola seems to have befouled Colombo’s water supply.
UPDATE: Coke is saying that they shut down production after the first instance of pollution and thus this couldn’t be them.
This is seriously infuriating. Industrial pollution up to the level that it cuts of water for an entire city? The management at this factory should be arrested and Coca Cola should be sued to cover the cleanup and damages to our water pumping and processing plants.
That factory was responsible for leakage and contamination before, but it happened on election day when no one was paying attention. Now hopefully people are. Coke is poison but tasty poison every now and then, that’s fine. Them polluting our drinking water is another thing altogether. Uncouth and uncool.
UPDATE: Note that Coke is saying this isn’t their fault as they shut down production after having their environmental license revoked the last time. I’ll publish a statement from them as they send it. Also note that there are reports that remnants of the original spill have resurfaced after recent rains and been flushed back into the river.
This is the Coca Cola Press Release:
Statement from Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd
On 17th August, our staff noticed a leakage of diesel from a fuel pipe line. The leak was plugged immediately by the staff on night duty. However, by the time this leak was plugged, some oil had escaped into the nearby water body, through the storm water drainage system. We informed the local authorities as soon as we noticed it and took corrective and precautionary measures in consultation with them. As an immediate measure, several corrective measures were taken at the plant. This includes discontinuing the use of the affected fuel pipeline and temporarily blocking the affected storm water drainage. Services of an independent engineer was obtained to ascertain and verify the effectiveness of the corrective and preventive measures implemented. Additionally, we initiated exhaustive preventive actions to avoid any such occurrence in the future and are cooperating with the authorities.
We also confirm that we are in receipt of a letter from the Central Environment Authority to temporarily halt operations at our plant and we have already complied with their request. We are currently in discussions with the Central Environmental Authority to recommence operations. The Coca-Cola Company has been in operation in Sri Lanka for over 50 years and wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the country and its consumers. We sincerely regret this accident and have already put in place several measures to prevent such an occurrence in the future.
What about the lazy f***tards that call themselves the Water Board? Are there absolutely NO mechanisms to ensure clean water?
this will also do damage to wildlife in the Kelani river system. there are a lot of endemic fish and other freshwater species at risk.
A water supply problem could be solved but irreparable damage may have been done to the local ecosystems.
Coca cola should be made accountable.
Indi, too harsh maybe? Give them a chance to see if they can rectify the situation
Jude: see if they can rectify the damage done to people’s health.
@normal bayyz, Sure, lets arrest the management, their families and pets because they leaked oil on purpose.
All plants and factories, which discharges storm water to a major water body should ensure that the storm water is checked and treated to meet approved specs. A global company like Coca Coala should know and comply with such basic compliances. CEA should strictly impose these .
lol Jude. legal action will be brought against a company for befouling the environment and the company will have to pay reparations.
The impact to humans is one thing; had anything done on the impact to the biodiversity in around the plant as a result of such discharge? This is not been responsible.
Mistakes happen. Things break. If the issue was, indeed, a leaky oil line, it appears that Coke did the right thing by shutting off supply, capping the leak, stopping drainage to the sewer, and calling the relevant Environmental Agency. Blaming Coke for a line malfunction without investigation as to whether that malfunction stemmed from negligence, willful disregard for public safety, or poor maintenance is premature at best, and inflammatory anti-corporate rhetoric at worst. Indi is fair and level headed enough to include Coke’s statement and subsequent efforts to rectify a bad situation.
Things break. Pipes rupture. Seals leak (especially in tropical climes where rubber, silicone, and composite materials often deteriorate, melt, or otherwise disintegrate. Let’s be brutally honest: there are few quality standards worth mentioning on this fair isle. Pollution controls on vehicles are supposedly subject to government regulation, yet CTB buses belch millions of pounds of particulate matter, soot, and hydrocarbons. Try to find two buildings in Sri Lanka where the steps have a uniform rise and run – in comparison to each other, or even in comparison to other steps on the same staircase. Look at the number of sidewalks that have huge gaps, crumbling pavement, and non-standard width. Hell, look at the number of streets on which sidewalks end abruptly without reason. Look at food safety standards, the number of foul toilets in high end restaurants, the number of people who throw plastic trash, motor oil, and other detritus on the street. There are NO standards, and those that exist aren’t followed or regulated in any meaningful way. Environmental responsibility in Sri Lanka is an oxymoron, a comedy of errors writ large.
Now imagine the quality standards of the pipe fitting at the Coke plant. Imagine how conscientious a worker the pipe fitter must have been – or how blasé that same pipe fitter is ALLOWED to be by law/license/society.
Things break. Sometimes corporations are to blame. If they are, they should -and usually do- pay for the damages and facilitate the repairs. But what responsibility rests with the national authorities tasked with regulating these cleanups, policing their root cause prevention, or precluding their implementation?
And what if, seriously, it was just a faulty pipe?
Things break. And unless Coke was willfully negligent, they’ve done the right thing in the aftermath of this small (on a relative scale) catastrophe.
Things break. Now let’s see who is truly to blame, and how they go about fixing those broken things.
Yeah things break but for the last 10 years the government called anyone who pointed out the breakages as traitors. The private sector took that attitude and ran with it (having worked in SL for the last 10 years) and any employee who pointed out flaws or played the devils advocate was deemed a “trouble maker”.
Things break but as a society, it’s up to us as individuals to do all we can in our power to point out when things break and hold people accountable.
When this happened no media outlet, no politician, no one alerted the public- they let the people find out on their own. And in today’s Daily Mirror the GMOA says SL doesn’t have toxicologists? WTF are they waiting for?
When shit like this happens it’s up to us, the people to rage and scream and humiliate these entities so that they won’t repeat these mistakes in this country or any other.
If we don’t fight for our rights, who will?
For far too long our people have accepted mediocrity and bullshit as the norm. No, stand up and rage, get angry and if things break, hold people/ entities accountable.
Don’t allow these things to slowly be forgotten.
Dinuka, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments. Well said.
As an outsider, and an expatriate, I have an admittedly harsh and “western” viewpoint. That said, it’s strong and transparent governance driven by public voice that will force improvements to the system.
The younger generation needs to tweet, vine, Instagram, tumble, and whatsapp THIS stuff, not just “what Disney princess are you?” questionnaires from bloody Buzzfeed.
If they – and we – don’t bother to express outrage every time there’s a breakdown in civil or commercial society, then they and we should shut up and admit we’re the problem rather than our (democratically elected) politicians and policy czars.
People, you forget that you live in a 3rd-world cesspool. Yes, I hate to say this, but this entire region of South Asia is a SHITHOLE. Either, try to get out of here by migrating, or live with it. You have 2 choices in a 3rd-world-shithole, either put up with it, or LEAVE. This is what my uncle told me before he migrated to Australia. A lot of people forget that we have been running our own affairs for 67 years. That’s about 3 generations. If you ask anybody who can remember the 1940s or 50s, they will say without any hesitation that the Ceylon then was much better than the Sri Lanka now. Roads and other infrastructure means nothing without proper planned development. You think multinationals are to blame for pollution?? Then see how the ordinary people in this country are destroying their own environment: http://www.lankadeepa.lk/index.php/articles/345123
Funny, CS – my perspective is quite different. I left 40 years ago, when things were decidedly bad and unsurprisingly, ever more unpromising. But this is 2015, where public education, international awareness, and the speed of information exchange are at historically unbelievable heights. People in the third world HAVE either put up with it(without complaint) or left (to countries where these issues are minimized or non-existent). Yet in 2015, with a new post-war, post-corruption, post-nationalistic-fervor-isolationism era dawning, isn’t it time to fix it and STAY?
I know that’s what I’m planning to do.