‘State has dropped plan to let sewage into Bhima’
Tuesday, 31 December 2013 05:34
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The Hindu 31.12.2013 ‘State has dropped plan to let sewage into Bhima’
Minister for Municipal Administration and Waqf Qamarul Islam presiding
over the quarterly review meeting of the Karnataka Development Programme
in Gulbarga on Monday.— PHOTO: ARUN KULKARNI
Minister for Municipal Administration and Waqf Qamarul
Islam has said that the government has given up the idea of diverting
the sewage into the Bhima at a point near the Saradagi barrage, from
where the bulk water is lifted for providing drinking water. The sewage
would be impounded and treated before letting it into the river. Presiding
over the quarterly review meeting of the Karnataka Development
Programme (KDP) here on Monday, Mr. Islam said that a team of experts
from Bangalore, deputed by the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage
Board, had visited the spot where the sewage mixed with the Bhima. The
team members had said that the proposal mooted by the board to divert
the water through a closed canal and allowing it to merge with the river
in the downstream of Saradagi barrage at a cost of Rs. 14 crore, would
not serve any purpose. The threat to the health of
people drinking the water drawn from the Bhima would continue to remain.
The only solution was to treat the sewage before letting it into the
river. The State government had accepted the report of experts and
directed the KUWSDB to upgrade the existing oxidation plant, located
near the Bhima, into a sewage treatment plant, and allow only treated
sewage to flow into the Bhima, as a permanent solution. Mr. Islam said
that the government had also given its green signal to take up the work
on underground drainage (UGD) system in Aland and Wadi in Chittapur
taluk and drinking water project to Sedam. The district administration
had been directed to issue 4(1) notification for the acquisition of land
required for implementing these projects. Aland MLA
B.R. Patil, who spoke on the issue, said that owing to non-availability
of suitable land, the UGD work sanctioned to Aland town could not be
taken up in time. Many projects sanctioned to taluk headquarters could
not be taken up for want of land. The government should create a land
bank with about 25 to 100 acres in and around all taluk headquarters for
taking up the projects, including the newly sanctioned schools,
hospitals and other infrastructure facilities, he said.
BWSSB discovers the power of sewage
Friday, 27 December 2013 07:34
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Deccan Chronicle 27.12.2013 BWSSB discovers the power of sewage Bangalore: The
BWSSB is working on a project to generate electricity from sewage. In a
pilot project, at Rs 220 crore, power will be generated using sewage in
Koramangala-Challaghatta valley and will be used to run the sewage
treatment plant at the same station. In a first of its kind
project, the BWSSB is planning to use sewage being collected in
K&C Valley. “We expect the project to start generating 1 kilo watt
power by mid 2015. The power will be used to a sewage treatment plant of
60 MLD capacity,” a BWSSB official said. The project is being
done with financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation
Agency, which is already funding some of BWSSB’s projects. The BWSSB is
also working with a Singapore firm on building capacity in treating
waste water for household use in the future. Ideally, the sewage
generated by a city should be comparable to the water supplied to it.
In Bangalore, the sewage reaching the water bodies is less than 18 per
cent. When asked whether and how the power generation unit will have
enough sewage to operate, the official said: “Firstly, to generate 1.05
KW power that we aim to generate in the pilot project does not require
too much sewage. Also, with Agara, Sarakki and other lakes which drain
into K&C Valley, an adequate quantity of sewage should not be a
problem.”
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NMC to increase STP capacity by March 2014
Friday, 13 December 2013 11:44
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The Times of India 13.12.2013 NMC to increase STP capacity by March 2014
NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), which is releasing untreated sewage into Godavari river, is expected to revamp its sewage disposal system by March 2014.
The city gets around 390 million litres per day (MLD) drinking water, of which sewage of around 240 MLD is generated. The NMC is treating 200 MLD sewage, while the remaining 40 MLD is released in Godavari River. The civic body is to increase the treatment capacity 310 MLD by March 2014.
Municipal commissioner Sanjay Khandare said, "We have started planning for the drinking water and sewage treatment of the city, considering the population growth by the year 2022 and 2036. Presently, the NMC has six sewage treatment plants (STPs) across the city with joint capacity of 200 MLD. Presently, we are unable to treat sewage of 40 MLD. But we have started working on increasing the sewage treatment capacity."
He added, "We are in the process of adding a new sewage treatment capacity of 110 MLD by March 2014, that will increase the total sewage treatment capacity from present 200 MLD to 310 MLD. The sewage treatment capacity of 70 MLD is to be added by December end, while rest is to be added by March 2014. Apart from this, we are also planning to build new STP at Pimpalgaon Khamb, near city with a sewage treatment capacity of 32 MLD. We are taking efforts to get the land for this proposed STP. The work of the STP will begin once we acquire the land."
The pollution in Godavari river has become a matter of concern for the NMC in the runup to the Kumbh. Nashik is one of the four major cities in the country where Kumbh mela is held after every 12 years. The forthcoming Kumbh mela is scheduled in 2015.
Accordingly, the NGO Godavari Gatarikarn Virodhi Manch and Nashik Godavari Purohit Sangh have sought the NMC as well as the district administration to make the rive pollution free. The Godavari Gatarikaran Virodhi Mach has already moved the high court against the NMC for releasing sewage in Godavari and thereby causing river pollution. The court too has directed the NMC to take measures to make the river pollution free as per the suggestions of the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).
Khandare further added, "We have made some boats operational in Godavari to clean the river by collecting nirmalya and other solid waste. We have already made the river free of hyacinth. Moreover, we have also appointed to NGOs to collect 'nirmalya' at Ramkund. We have also put there large steel-made utensil for the collection of nirmalya there."
Desilting plans for Rankala take shape
Thursday, 12 December 2013 11:22
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The Times of India 12.12.2013 Desilting plans for Rankala take shape
KOLHAPUR: The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) is preparing a plan for the internal treatment of the Rankala lake to remove the huge amount of accumulated sludge, estimated to fill as many as 70,000 to 1,00,000 dumpers, officials said.
The lake, which is a part of the National Lake Conservation Plan ( NLCP) initiated by the Union environment and forests ministry a decade ago, is yet to fully utilize its sanctioned amount of Rs 8.65 crore. Since the 16 works, including the major task of arresting sewage water discharge, are in the final stage, the KMC is mulling the next step to desilt the lake.
The KMC has drafted a couple of plans, including chemical treatment to neutralize the sludge as well as flushing it out by creating gates at the bottom of the lake. The civic body's experiments to remove the sludge manually had failed in the past. "We are yet to finalize the plan and have appointed a consultant for this phase of work. The structure of Rankala is like a dam; which overflows when its reaches the maximum storage capacity. Obviously, the sludge remains in the lake for years and it may keep on polluting the water," said R K Patil, environmental engineer of KMC.
KMC had laid a pipeline for Sarnaik Vasahat, Deshmukh hall, Shyam Society and Partala nullah, which were directly polluting Rankala for years. The work of pipeline of 2.8 km is almost complete, only a small section of 150 metres remains.
Patil said that they are looking at various options to remove the sludge to clean the lake. "We have Rs 1.88 crore kept aside for interior treatment of the lake. The sludge has to be removed else all efforts of arresting sewage water would go waste. It will take months to remove the sludge and require funds of Rs 30-35 crore," he said.
Environmentalists and experts have cautioned the KMC before taking further steps, saying the earlier steps to desilt the lake had failed. Eutrophication is a natural phenomenon and no manual efforts to remove sludge are possible in Rankala lake case, they said.
Eutrophication is a process by which a water body acquires high concentration of nutrients, especially phosphates and nitrates, through fertilizer run-off and sewage discharge. These typically promote excessive growth of algae.
"We have to work on alternatives. The previous efforts had failed since the volume of sludge was huge. If KMC is preparing such plans again, it has to work on the use of sludge first. I don't think a natural gate to desilt the lake exists," said Jeevan Bodake, architect and nature lover.
Jay Samant, a member of Wetland international, Asia, warned that the KMC should first concentrate on fully arresting the discharge of pollutants and then go for removing the sludge. "We have to understand the lake with wetland perspective. It is not a water-tank which can be flushed out clean," he insisted.
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