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Water Treatment


Desalination plants on the anvil to quench state thirst

Friday, 05 April 2013 08:13 administrator
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The New Indian Express                  05.04.2013

Desalination plants on the anvil to quench state thirst

To outsiders, it may come as a surprise that Kerala, a land of 44 rivers, is turning to desalination plants to ward off thirst. The government has identified 19 sites in five coastal districts - all of them badly hit in terms of drinking water availability - for setting up desalination facilities to address the problem.

The project will be implemented by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), KWA chairman V J Kurian said. The proposed plants will employ reverse osmosis for purifying saline water.

Six of the locations are in Thiruvananthapuram - Vettucaud, Veli, Pozhiyoor, Poovar, Muthalapozhi Harbour, Anchuthengu and Puthiyathura. Kollam will get four; at Sakthikulangara, Thangassery, Thevally and Mangad while Alappuzha stands to get two - at Kainakari and Nedumudi in the Kuttanad belt.  In Thrissur district, Poyya has been selected for the purpose, while five locations have been identified in Kasargode district - Thalangara, Bangode anganwadi, Nellikkunnu beach (north) and Nellikkunnu beach (south) and the anganwadi at Moideen Palli Pallam Road. The capacity of the proposed desalination plants range from 2000 litres per hour (lph) to 10,000 lph.

The bigger desalination plants are intended for the two sites in Kuttanad, which face an acute shortage of drinking water.

‘’We selected places that face severe water scarcity and where the KWA also face difficulty in supplying water. Since Kerala has a coastline of 590 kilometres, we also wanted an even distribution of the plants,’’ KWA managing director Ashok Kumar Singh said.

‘’The choice of water that will be treated has been left open and depending on the location,’’ he said.

 

Tertiary treated water still not being used to irrigate parks

Thursday, 04 April 2013 09:01 administrator
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The Indian Express                   04.04.2013

Tertiary treated water still not being used to irrigate parks

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Having spent crores on a project to supply tertiary treated water, the Municipal Corporation has not been able to ensure that the water is utilised for irrigation. The reason being the lack of co-ordination between departments of the civic body. While the public health department claims that water is reaching most of the gardens and greenbelts, the horticulture department has not deputed anyone to make use of the water.

Superintending Engineer (Public Health) R C Diwan says, "Just a few residential areas are left where pipelines have not been laid. Water is being supplied till source. However, thereafter someone has to make use of it. An official has now been deputed specifically for dealing with problems of tertiary treated water."

The project for conversion of sewerage water into tertiary treated water and distributing it was undertaken under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in four phases. The plant for tertiary treated water was set up at Diggian. Four reservoirs were constructed one each in Sectors 48 and 29 and two in Sector 28. Pipelines were laid throughout the city in all sectors so that water could reach every garden and park.

The aim was to ensure that drinking water that is being used for irrigation is saved. However, at present this is not the case. While the MC has more than 1700 parks and more than 25 big gardens, tertiary treated water is still not being used for irrigation at most of the places.

The public health department that is responsible for the project claims that their work is to provide water till the source. Thereafter there have to be some people deployed in the parks and greenbelts who would install a hydrant and a pipe and make use of the water.

A majority of the councillors rue that tertiary treated water is not available in their wards.

Gurbax Rawat, councillor of ward 9 comprising Sectors 39 and 40, says, "Irrigation of parks and greenbelts in my ward is being done through tubewells. Though pipelines have been laid, we are not receiving tertiary treated water."

A similar situation prevails in ward 20 where deputy Mayor Satish Kainth is the area councillor. Kainth says that he had written a letter a few months back to the public health wing suggesting that apart from irrigation, tertiary treated water could also be used at service stations in Industrial Area. "At present potable water is being used to wash cars. The department claims that tertiary treated water can be used for all purposes apart from drinking. So it should be good enough for washing cars. However, no heed has been paid. Water is not being supplied to parks in my ward," he adds.

Satinder Singh, area councillor of ward 18 says that while pipelines are present, due to the absence of hydrants and related equipment water is not being utilised.

There has also been speculation that the amount of tertiary treated water being generated is less than what is projected. In meetings held recently, it has been suggested that flow meters be installed at Diggian to verify quantity of water produced. In some sectors leakages were witnessed in the pipelines due to which supply was affected.

 

‘Don’t form layouts with narrow roads’

Saturday, 30 March 2013 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express                        30.03.2013

‘Don’t form layouts with narrow roads’

To lay dual pipelines to pump recycled water to Bangalore, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has requested the planning agencies in the city to not approve residential and industrial layouts which do not have sub-arterial roads that are at least 60 feet wide.

BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T Venkatraju said, “Recycled water can be used for washing, industrial and other purposes when there is water scarcity. We need two pipelines to supply drinking water and recycled water. We cannot lay dual pipelines along narrow roads. So we have sent a letter to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) requesting it not to approve or form layouts with less than 60-foot-wide roads. We are in the process of sending this letter to other planning agencies as well.”

Venkatraju said the BWSSB had also requested the BDA to allot enough space to set up sewage treatment plant in its every layout. The BWSSB is planning to treat the sewage generated in every area within the same area instead of channel it to the nearest sewage valley and pump the recycled water back to the locality.

“This will prevent the sewage from seeping into water bodies and curb groundwater contamination, besides making it easy to supply recycled water,” Venkatraju said. At present, the BWSSB has the infrastructure to treat around 700 million litres a day (MLD) of sewage in more than 20 sewage treatment plants.

Though the city generates around 800 MLD of sewage every day, the BWSSB is able to treat only around 350 MLD due to breaches in sewer lines.

The BWSSB has already allotted works to lay new sewer lines in the newly added areas and to repair breaches in sewer lines in areas.

The Board sells around 15 MLD recycled water to different parties, including Bangalore International Airport Ltd and Aravind Mills. Rest of it is released into sewage valleys.

 

Delay in UGD works hits VMC revenue

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 06:45 administrator
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The Hindu                           27.03.2013

Delay in UGD works hits VMC revenue

G.V.R. Subba Rao 

4 STPs, and 6 sump-cum-pump houses being constructed under JNNURM programme.

Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is losing not less than Rs. 60 lakh per month due to inordinate delay in completion of Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) and sump cum pump houses etc in the city.

The VMC has been constructing 4 STPs, and 6 sump-cum-pump houses under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme in the city. The corporation has planned to construct two STPs at Jakkampudi and another two at Ajithsingh Nagar. While an STP at Jakkampudi is nearing completion, remaining are in different stages. The works have come to a grinding halt ever since the government has frozen the release of funds.

The VMC launched the UGD schemes with an estimate of Rs. 271.48 crore. However, it could complete the works to the tune of Rs. 185 crore up to 2011.

The contractors are shying away from completing the works as their bills were not cleared. The permissions from railway for laying pipelines under the railway tracks near Jakkampudi also delayed the progress.

The State government has not released nearly Rs. 200 crore due to the corporation under the JNNURM programme on technical grounds. The government argues that the VMC has not followed stipulated guidelines.

Had the government released mere Rs. 50 crore, the Corporation would have commenced some of the projects. Entire One Town area could be provided Under Ground Drainage (UGD) connections if the STPs etc were in place, officials said.

The UGD connections would fetch close to Rs. 6,500 per each connection as one time charges.

It includes road cutting, inspection, first water closet and next closet charges.

As the VMC has planned to provide one lakh connections, the receipts on UGD services would fetch Rs. 60 lakh per month.

The corporation has been losing these receipts for the last two years. The corporation incurs an expenditure of Rs. 7 crore on the UGD services.

However, mere Rs. 2.5 crore is recovered from the users, the officials said.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 08:04
 

Treated water, 42 years later

Monday, 25 March 2013 05:22 administrator
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The Hindu                          25.03.2013

Treated water, 42 years later

Water from Karichal scheme used to be just chlorinated.

Forty-two years after it was launched, the Karichal Water Supply Scheme has finally started distributing treated drinking water.

Launched in 1971 as the Poovar-Karichal Water Supply Scheme, this project of the KWA reached out to a region perennially deprived of drinking water — the State capital’s coastal belt comprising areas like Kanjiramkulam, Karumkulam, Poovar, and Puthiyathura. However, since the quality of water supplied through the scheme, which did not have a water treatment plant, did not quite meet the expected standards, criticism and complaints were frequent. The only ‘treatment’ done by KWA so far was to chlorinate the water. Now, with the addition of a water treatment plant at the Karichal pump-house, 22km from here, the KWA is trying to make a change.

Last Updated on Monday, 25 March 2013 05:45
 
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