Quick answers
How do industrial accidents harm wildlife and nature?
Chemical leaks, spills and fires can poison rivers, soil and forests. Fish, birds, bees, soil organisms and mangroves can be killed or damaged, breaking natural food chains.
Why do chemical spills kill fish so quickly?
Spills of oil, ammonia and acids can deplete oxygen in water, and fish can die within hours.
What causes greater ecological damage after an industrial accident?
Lack of buffer zones between industry and habitats, no real-time chemical monitoring, poor waste storage and containment, delays in neutralising spills and leaks, and weak enforcement of environmental impact assessments.
How can damage to biodiversity from industrial accidents be reduced?
Suggested steps include green buffer belts around hazardous industries, wildlife rescue and monitoring after every industrial fire or leak, bio-remediation of contaminated soil and water, and making polluters restore damaged areas.
When a factory catches fire or a well blows out, the news counts the people who died or were hurt. Nobody counts the fish, birds, insects and soil life that die around it. Those losses are real, and they can last for years after the fire is out.
Two Indian accidents from 2020 show this clearly: the styrene gas leak at Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and the oil well blowout at Baghjan in Assam.
What happened at Baghjan, Assam (2020)
- When it started: 27 May 2020, at Oil India’s Baghjan-5 well in Upper Assam.
- Where it was: about 300 metres from the buffer forest of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, and less than a kilometre from Maguri-Motapung beel, a wetland used by endangered and migratory birds.
- Wildlife: two days after the blowout began, the carcass of a young Gangetic river dolphin, coated with condensate, was found in the wetland. Dead livestock were also found in the area within days.
- Escalation: the leaking well caught fire in early June 2020.
(Source: Down To Earth, 30 May 2020 and 9 June 2020.)
The Gangetic river dolphin is India’s national aquatic animal. When one turns up dead, coated in oil, in a wetland next to a national park, that is a warning about everything else living in the same water that nobody saw.
Why this matters to you
Nature does work for us that we take for granted. Wetlands hold floodwater and clean it. Bees and other insects pollinate crops. Healthy soil grows our food. Rivers feed fishing families. When an industrial accident poisons a wetland, a river or a patch of soil, the people living nearby lose part of their food, water and income too.
Human deaths make headlines. Damage to a wetland or a river rarely does, and it is seldom measured properly afterwards.
The life that gets hurt first
Rivers, ponds and wetlands
Oil, ammonia and acid spills can poison water and use up the oxygen in it. Fish and other water life can die quickly, and the birds that feed on them are hit next.
Soil
Chemicals that soak into the ground can harm the bacteria and small organisms that keep soil fertile. Farmland near a spill may need testing before it is used again.
Birds and insects
Smoke, fumes and oily water harm birds and insects directly. Migratory birds that stop at a polluted wetland carry the harm far beyond the accident site.
Mangroves and coastal wetlands
Oil that coats mangrove roots can choke them. Mangroves are breeding grounds for many fish and birds, so the loss spreads up the food chain.
Why the damage gets worse than it needs to
- Hazardous units are allowed too close to forests, wetlands and rivers, with no proper buffer between them.
- Many sites do not monitor chemical releases continuously, so a leak is noticed late.
- Waste and chemicals are stored without proper bunds or containment, so a fire or flood carries them out.
- Spills and gas leaks are not contained and cleaned up quickly enough.
- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conditions are written down but not always enforced on the ground.
What should change
- Count nature in the damage report. After every major industrial fire, leak or blowout, forest and wildlife officials should survey the area along with the disaster response teams.
- Make the polluter pay for repair. The company responsible should pay for cleaning up and restoring the damaged land and water, not only compensate people.
- Keep green buffers. Land-use planning should keep a safe belt of land between hazardous industries and forests, wetlands and rivers.
- Clean up with care. Where experts advise it, biological clean-up methods can help treat contaminated soil and water.
- Enforce EIA conditions. Approval conditions should be checked regularly at the site, not only on paper.
What you can do
If you live near an industrial area, you are often the first to notice a problem.
- If you see dead fish, an oily sheen on a pond or river, or birds in distress near a factory, report it to your State Pollution Control Board and the local forest office. Take photos from a safe distance and note the date, time and place.
- If there is a gas leak, fire or blowout nearby, follow the instructions of the district administration and call 112 if anyone is in danger.
- Do not go close to a spill to take pictures or collect fish. Some chemicals are dangerous to touch or breathe.
- Ask your gram panchayat or ward office whether the nearby unit has an emergency plan that includes local residents.
The next time you read about an industrial accident, ask two questions: how many people were hurt, and what else died with them?
References
- Down To Earth, “Blowout at Oil India well threatens national park in Upper Assam”, 30 May 2020
- Down To Earth, “Leaking Oil India well that caught fire yesterday should have been flagged earlier”, 9 June 2020
What needs attention
- At Baghjan, a well blowout happened right next to a national park and an important bird wetland
- An oil-coated Gangetic river dolphin was found dead in the wetland within two days
- Damage to water, soil and wildlife is rarely surveyed or counted after Indian industrial accidents
- Hazardous units sited close to forests, wetlands and rivers turn an industrial accident into an ecological one
- Late detection, poor containment and slow clean-up make the damage worse
Controls that reduce risk
- Include forest and wildlife officials in the damage survey after every major industrial accident
- Make the responsible company pay to clean up and restore damaged land and water
- Keep a green buffer between hazardous industries and forests, wetlands and rivers
- Check EIA approval conditions regularly at the site
- Make sure local residents know the nearby unit's emergency plan
Common unsafe practices
- Counting only human deaths and ignoring damage to water, soil and wildlife
- Allowing hazardous units right next to wetlands, rivers and forests
- Storing chemicals and waste without proper containment
- Waiting too long to contain and clean up a spill or leak
- Going close to a spill to take photos or collect dead fish
- Treating EIA conditions as paperwork instead of checking them at the site
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