The idea to use houseboats as COVID-19 care centres has not gone down well with a section of experts and boat owners with some of them calling for more clarity regarding waste management and the risk of spreading the virus in the waters of Vembanad Lake.
The administration is expecting an inflow of people from overseas and other States after the end of the COVID-19 lockdown period. In the first phase, the district administration has taken over 180 houseboats with a combined 495 bedrooms as part of converting them into COVID-19 care centres. It is planning to set up as many as 2,000 isolation beds in houseboats as part of a contingency plan.
K.G. Padmakumar, Director, International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea level Farming, Thottapally says that the authorities need to address the concerns of the public.
“We used to conduct an analysis of water from Vembanad Lake on a routine basis. Compared to other places, water samples collected from Punnamada Finishing Point and Pallathuruthy, two houseboat terminals in the district, always contained coliform bacteria exceeding permissible limits.
This was from the wastewater from vessels directly discharged into the lake in the absence of proper waste treatment facilities in the district. As the virus that causes COVID-19 can live in faecal matter, it adds to the risk of spreading the virus as the water in Vembanad Lake is being used for bathing, washing among other purposes. There is also water from the washbasins in houseboats directly drained to the lake. The authorities should ensure nothing is going into the water when the vessels are used as COVID-19 care centres,” Mr. Padmakumar says.
Risk for the poor
G. Nagendra Prabhu, Principal Investigator, Centre for Research on Aquatic Resources, S.D. College, Alappuzha, says that the risk for the poor and marginalised living in rural and impoverished areas of Kuttanad is higher as they lack basic infrastructure to remove common contaminants from water. “The reports of several animals like tiger, cat, bats and rats contracting COVID-19 (human to animal transmission) raises serious concerns on the aquatic fauna of Kuttanad,” Mr. Prabhu says.
Kevin Rozario, general secretary, All Kerala Houseboat Owners and Operators Samiti says that the houseboat owners too are concerned on the matter.
However, officials with the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority and district administration say that there is no basis for any such concerns. “We will only use houseboats as a last resort. Majority of the boats are fitted with bio-toilets. We have facilities to collect septage from boats. As the sewage treatment plant at the H- Block remains dysfunctional, the waste will be treated at a plant of the NTPC,” said an official. The official, however, said that a solution should have to be found in regard to the draining of water into the lake from washbasins.
