Source : The Hindu Date : 13.06.2009
20 more sewage treatment plants to be set up
Special Correspondent
| Bangalore already has 11 such plants |
Work is expected to start by month-end
Project to replace old pipelines that supply drinking water also to be taken up
Bangalore: The State Government will set up 20 more sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the city at a cost of Rs. 800 crore.
Minister for Information and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Katta Subramanya Naidu told presspersons here on Friday that the city had 11 STPs and of them three were under repair. A plan had been prepared to treat 700 million litres per day (MLD) sewage and supply it for non-domestic purposes at rates that would be 50 per cent of what was being charged for drinking water.
Work on the project was expected to start by June-end. Another Rs. 300-crore project to replace old pipelines that supply drinking water would be also taken up shortly. Bangalore city required 1,250 MLD of drinking water and it now gets only 850 MLD.
On allocation of 18 tmcft by the Cauvery tribunal to meet the drinking water needs, he said the city required an allocation of at least 50 tmcft. This had been pointed out in the SLP filed by Karnataka before the Supreme Court, Mr. Naidu said.
Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai said a survey would be taken up of the 40-km stretch of the Arkavathi catchment area from Nandi Hills up to Thippagondanahalli (T.G. Halli) reservoir to identify encroachments and clear them. The survey would commence on July 15. T.G. Halli reservoir now supplies about 30 MLD of drinking water to parts of the city.
There had been a sharp decline in the inflow of water from Arkavathi river to T.G Halli and Hesarghatta reservoirs. BWSSB and Water Resources Department officials would jointly conduct the survey for desilting lakes and water courses in the entire catchment area and curb mining in the catchment areas in zone 2, 3, and 4, they said. Officials of Minor Irrigation, Mines and Geology, Forest and Ecology, Public Works, and Watershed departments, the Pollution Control Board, and Bangalore Rural and Bangalore Urban deputy commissioners would be involved to clear encroachments, stop mining, quarrying and stone crushing activity, restrict conversion of agricultural lands to commercial and industrial use and monitor exploitation of groundwater.
When all works are completed, there would be additional 2,000 MCF inflow to two reservoirs. The inflow was about 824 MCF in 2007 and 180 MCF in 2001.
Water supply to the city, which has population of 80 lakh, remained stagnant for nearly a decade now. As many as 850 million litres a day of water was being supplied to the city now against the demand of 1,250 MLD.
