Foreword

One of the main functions of the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution including those spelt out in the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, is to laydown standards for effluents discharged from the industries in order to prevent the pollution of water resources of the country. The standards laid down for treated effluent are such that: it is within the techno-economic capability of that particular industry for taking anti-pollution measures. These standards are termed 'Minimal National Standards' (MINAS). The evolution of MINAS thus remains independent of the characteristics of the receipient environment.

The Central and State Boards for Pollution Control have come to an agree- ment that under no circumstances MINAS would be relaxed as because the same is techno-economically acceptable to the industry. On the contrary at

situations where the receipient environment demands stricter quality of the effluent of the industry, the State Pollution Control Boards are empowered to prescribe standardp stricter than MINAS. This summary document has been prepared from the comprehensive document on Thermal Power Plants prepared by Mls Industrial Consultancy Bureau, New Delhi as Consultants to the Board.

Shri V. Subramanian, Environmental Engineer, Central Board, developed and prepared this summary document and made it more comprehensive in nature by covering all the possible sources of liquid effluent generation in a Thermal Power Plant which hitherto was not covered by the Consultant.

Dr. S.P. Chakrabarti, Environmental Engineer, scrutinized and edited the document. Shri M.R.C. Pillai typed the manuscript on the electronic typewriter . Smt. Bonya Basu and Shri Ramesh Shahi prepared the drawings.