The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) on Wednesday urged industrialists to imbibe the culture of effective management of liquid waste treatment plants for a sustainable and safe environment.
The General-Manager, LASEPA, Dr Tunde Ajayi, made the call at a workshop on effective operation of Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that effluent treatment plant is a unit where multiple treatment of waste water is done for either reuse or safe disposal to the environment.
Ajayi said the theme of the workshop: “Effective Operation of Effluent Treatment Plants” was apt and instructive.
He said it further demonstrated LASEPA’s commitment to the state government’s policies and programmes on clean and sustainable environment.
“On my assumption of office, I took an inspection tour of the state’s industrial areas especially, manufacturing organisations, to inspect the way their effluent is being treated.
“I realised that most of the effluent plants in those manufacturing organisations visited were either not working or completely abandoned for lack of technical know-how and training on their effective operations.
“The implication is that most manufacturing companies, either as a result of lack of technical know-how or faulty plants, discharge their raw effluent either directly into the drains, environment or the water bodies.
“This has continued to be a major threat to public health and the environment as such their activities have negative impacts on human health and the ecosystem,” Ajayi said.
He noted that it was needless to enforce environmental laws without teaching people the right thing to do.
He said the training was organised by LASEPA in conjunction with FUMMAN Chemicals to safeguard the well-being of the citizenry, protect the environment against further degradation and the safety of the ecosystem.
He said the goal of the workshop was to train ETP operators, maintenance officers, supervisors, quality assurance officers and others to enhance their competence.
“The workshop is aimed at providing ETP operators with requisite knowledge that would help them to run their facilities safely and efficiently in the best global standard practice.
“It would help industries to design and implement a post production effluent treatment system that would be environmentally friendly and conform with the best practices.
“It would guide manufacturing organisations to design an industrial effluent management system that will prevent environmental pollution and toxicity in their community of operations, among other objectives,” Ajayi said.
He expressed gratitude to the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources for his kind consideration and approval of the workshop.
“As an agency under your watch, we pledge our commitment to effective policy implementation to complement the state government’s various reform efforts at making the state the safest and cleanest capital city in Africa,” Ajayi said.
Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the Environment, Mr Olakunle Rotimi- Akodu, expressed gratitude to LASEPA for organising the workshop for the safety and sustainability of the environment.
Akhodu urged participants to pay attention to the workshop and imbibe the habit of caring for the future of the environment.
He said the state government was committed to building a safe and healthy environment for the good of Lagos residents.
He called for responsible waste management habit for all residents of the state.