Chairman's Message

Welcome to the Goa State Pollution Control Board

The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) is an Autonomous Statutory Body constituted by the Government of Goa, on 1st July, 1988, under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Prior to this, when Goa formed a part of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, all the functions under the above Acts were performed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) through its Section Office established at Ponda, Goa. Presently, the GSPCB is housed in its own premises on the 1st and 4th floors of Dempo Towers, Patto Plaza, EDC Complex, Panaji, Goa.

The GSPCB is striving hard to keep the industrial pollution (air, water, hazardous wastes and bio-medical wastes) in the State of Goa under control through its various activities listed below, and seeks active cooperation from the public in general and industries in particular, in this endeavour:

• Issuing Consent to Establish to new industrial units
• Issuing Consent to Operate under the Water Act
• Issuing Consent to Operate under the Air Act
• Issuing Authorization under the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989
• Issuing Authorization under the Bio-Medical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998
• Renewal of Consent to Operate under the Air and Water Acts
• Monitoring the compliance of Consent to Operate Conditions of the Board by the industrial units, by conducting regular site inspections at various stages (before issuing Consent to Establish, Consent to Operate under Air and Water Acts, Renewal of Consent to Operate under Air and Water Acts).
• By conducting surprise site inspections of the Industrial Units to check their effluents, emissions and hazardous wastes.
• By conducting site inspections of the industrial units in response to complaints from the public regarding air/water pollution from their effluents, emissions and noise pollution
• By issuing appropriate directions to the industrial units and Health Care Centers under the Air Act, Water Act and Environment Protection Act.

The GSPCB has set up well furnished laboratories on the 1st and 4th floors of the Dhempo Towers, which are equipped with the most modern instrumentation to carry out analysis of pollutants of air, water, hazardous wastes and microbiological parameters. The sophisticated instruments available at the GSPCB laboratories include UV/VIS Spectrophotometers, Atomic Absorbtion Spectrophotometer (AAS) with both flame and graphite furnace atomization, Gas Chromatograph (GC), Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzer, Toxicity Characteristics Leachate Procedure (TCLP) Kit, Microwave Digestion System, Respirable Dust Samplers (RDS), Stack Emissions Monitoring Kits, Ambient Carbon Monoxide (CO) Analyzer, Automatic Weather Monitoring Station, and Noise Level Meters. The Board also has the facility of Mobile Laboratories (3 nos.) which are being used for on-the-spot measurement of some pollutants. Presently, the GSPCB is in the final stage of acquiring a new Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) which will help the Board to monitor pollutants like pesticides, and oils and grease in the environment.

The laboratory of the GSPCB is recognized as Environment Laboratory by the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the Environment Protection Act (1986), to carry out sampling and analysis of environmental pollutants (Air and Water). The GSPCB laboratory has also been granted accreditation under ISO-17025 (2005) by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for testing drinking water and waste water.

Dr. Simon N. de Sousa
Chairman