8.1 OBJECTIVES
The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 emphasize that imparting training is one of the functions of the Central Pollution Control Board. Training in various aspects of prevention, abatement and control of pollution to the identified target groups is important. The target groups include officials dealing with planning, funding and implementation programmes for prevention and control of pollution in the Central Government and State Government, the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, the local bodies, operators of industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants and NGOs engaged in management of pollution control programmes.

8.2          TRAINING NEED

            Pollution control is an inter-disciplinary subject. Graduates, post-graduates in the fields of chemical/civil engineering and sciences, do not have any formal training on applied aspects in the field of prevention, abatement and control of pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to orient them for discharging their responsibilities smoothly and efficiently in areas, such as consent management, and implementation of effluent and emission standards. In addition, there is a need for manpower development to improve the capabilities of officials working with Pollution Control Boards. It is necessary that uniform methods of analysis of pollutants and consent management are adopted and ensured through training for proper and effective implementation of the provisions of Environmental Acts. To summarise, training is needed in the following fields:

Ø      Operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment units and air pollution control devices;

Ø      Management, routine operation and maintenance of environmental laboratories;

Ø      Water and air quality monitoring systems;

Ø      Laboratory analytical methods, quality assurance and analytical quality control;

Ø      Consent management including setting and implementation of standards;

Ø      Environmental audit, environmental impact assessment and environmental management systems; and

Ø      Specific subjects, such as management of hazardous waste, air/water quality modelling, data processing and legal aspects

8.3  TRAINING PROGRAMMES/WORKSHOPS ORGANISED BY CPCB DURING 1999-2000

8.3.1  Training programme on Bio-monitoring of Water Quality

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi has conducted training programme on `Bio-monitoring of Water Quality' at Shillong, Meghalaya in collaboration with Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board , Shillong for participants of East and North-East State Pollution Control Boards between 15th to 21st January, 2000.  The training programme was attended by seventeen senior, middle and junior level biological scientists of various State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB's).

The objective of the training programme was to provide exposure to State Pollution Control Boards's officials of North East and Eastern Pollution Control Boards about the need and importance of bio-monitoring, employing various sampling procedures for water quality assessment and evaluation. The training programme incorporated a blend of theoretical and practical exposure in order to strengthen the bio-assessment competence of the officials of State Pollution Control Boards and has been extremely successful as per the ratings provided by participants in training evaluation form. The bottlenecks in initiation of biological assessment of water quality in respective East and North East State Pollution Control Boards and ways and means to overcome these have been discussed in concluding session of the training programme.  The training programme has received extraordinary media coverage and news items have appeared in five newspapers of North-Eastern region.

A workshop was organised on “Bio-medical Waste Treatment (Incineration)” in Delhi during November 01-02, 1999. Various hospitals, regulatory bodies, local bodies, and manufacturers participated in the workshop. The major recommendation of the workshop are as under:

Ø      To check the mushrooming of small incinerators, it is necessary that common facilities are set up for the benefit of small and medium waste generators.  It should be the responsibility of local bodies/municipal corporations to establish the Common Facilities.  The local bodies either can set  up the facility on their own or through the private entrepreneurs by providing guarantee of waste stream and incentives such as land, electricity and on income tax  excise/custom duty etc.

Ø      The installation of incinerators by individual hospitals shall be discouraged by the concerned prescribed authorities.

Ø      As concluded from the stack emission analysis study conducted by CPCB, all the existing incinerators should be retrofitted with the necessary air pollution control device or the combination  of various air pollution control devices;

Ø      Operate and maintain the incinerators properly and ensure immediate repair or replacement of faulty parts, such as burners, temperature indicators, temperature sensors, door seals etc.;

Ø      The incinerator should only be operated by skilled and qualified persons preferably having certificate from ITI in the relevant field.  The incinerator manufacturers shall also impart necessary training in this regard to the operators;

Ø      A log book for the operation and maintenance of incinerators shall be kept in the incinerator room and be available for inspection at any time;

Ø      All new incinerators in the country should be installed with all the required combination of air pollution control devices.