The Environment Ministry stated yesterday that currently, the amount of fuel oil discharged annually from ships coming to Sri Lanka exceeds 20,000 metric tonnes (MT). “A total of 27 agencies and individuals have been licensed to use the discharged fuel oil. It has been revealed that 10,000 litres of pure water becomes toxic due to a litre of waste water discharged from fuel oil,” the Environment Ministry said. However, at Sri Lankan ports, disposable fuel oil is bought at a price from the ships by approximately 10 companies in the country who then refine and sell the fuel oil to small-scale industries. “In the process of removing water from fuel oil, the contaminated water is directly discharged to water sources such as rivers and streams.

Source: The Nation October 05, 2021 22:18 UTC