Source : The Hindu Date : 23.06.2009

Houseboats get the blame for lake pollution

Staff Reporter

NO POLLUTING: Houseboats on the backwaters of Alappuzha in this file photo.

ALAPPUZHA: Every time there is a public outcry on pollution of water-bodies in Kuttanad, particularly the Vembanad Lake, the 600-odd houseboats operating in the region are among the first to be blamed.

However, a close look at the ground reality reveals that though there is no denying the role of the houseboats in pollution, there are a few others too who have an indirect but definite share of the blame.

It is a well-known fact that only around 100 of the 600-plus houseboats operating in the Vembanad Lake and the surrounding canals and rivers have valid Pollution Control Certificates (PCC) since they have onboard sewage treatment facilities.

The rest, who should have registered themselves with Government sewage treatment plants for obtaining the PCC, have not been able to do so since the treatment plant at Alappuzha is still on paper.

Though this has been repeatedly raised at several public platforms by environmentalists and various other quarters, calling for speedy completion of the treatment plant at Punnamada in Alappuzha, work is yet to begin on the plant.

There have been no takers for the tenders issued by the District Tourism Promotion Council for the project that was sanctioned more than two years back, according to official sources.

Interestingly, the delay in the establishment of the sewage plant has not stopped houseboat owners from paying the requisite fee for the PCC to the local Pollution Control Board office, or the officials from receiving the fees.

“It is not our fault that the Government has failed to set up the plant. We have paid the fees, it is up to them to complete the plant and register us,” reasons a houseboat owner here.

The fee receipt is brandished whenever the PCC is asked for.

The case of the canal licence, which along with the PCC and a fitness certificate, is necessary for houseboats to conduct operations, is similar.

The PCC is mandatory for the canal licence to be issued. But here too, officials have received the requisite fee for the canal licence, reasoning that houseboat owners have paid for the PCC and are waiting for completion of the treatment plant to obtain it.

“It all boils down to the delay in setting up the treatment plant. Once that is done, there can be stringent action on those operating without the PCC. Till then, it is a case of mutual understanding,” an official explains.

Source : The Hindu Date : 13.06.2009

20 more sewage treatment plants to be set up

Special Correspondent

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.