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Water Treatment

Potable water for Marina

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Deccan Chronicle 30.07.2009

Potable water for Marina

July 30th, 2009
By Our Correspondent

Chennai, July 29: City corporation has proposed to introduce purified drinking water facilities at 10 spots along the Marina beach in co-ordination with NGOs and Chennai Metro Water board. Corporation top brass and metro water officials along with representatives of NGOs will discuss the proposal at the Ripon Buildings on Thursday, mayor M. Subramanian told Deccan Chronicle.

With the corporation planning to introduce total ban on plastic products at Marina Beach from August 15 and the beach beautification project underway, the civic body is planning to introduce public friendly initiatives along the coast of Marina, the mayor said.

The representatives of Lions Club, Rotary International and Round Table and government officials will participate in the meeting and discuss the modalities in connection with constructing the drinking water plants. The NGOs will maintain the facility and each facility will cost about Rs 4 to 5 lakh and each will be set up for every 500 metres in the 4 kilometre stretch. The NGOs had already installed 19 water purifiers in the corporation school and the initiative is a hit among the school students. In fact, the children also carry the purified water to their homes, he said.

With the view to meet the demand, the civic body is planning to engage the NGOs in setting up water tanks to supply purified drinking water to beach-visitors, further the move is expected to reduce the usage of drinking water sachets in the Marina beach, where the plastic will be banned by mid August.

According to corporation sources, besides installing drinking water plants the civic body plans to rope in private firms and NGOs to maintain the parks and play fields. It may be noted that corporation had already completed the first phase of beach beautification in front of the state secretariat. On completion the total cost of the project is expected to be around Rs 40 crore.

 

Rs 22 crore more for river project

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The Deccan Chronicle 17.07.2009

Rs 22 crore more for river project

July 17th, 2009
By Our Correspondent

Chennai
July 16: The government will take up additional works to the tune of Rs 22.16 crore under the Chennai city river conservation project this fiscal. The important component of this centrally assisted project of pollution abatement is to intercept the sewage discharge polluting the six Chennai city waterways and pumping it into the sewage treatment plants at Perungudi, Koyambedu, Nesapakkam and Kodungaiyur.


The Pallikaranai wetland, a unique fresh water swamp and nesting ground for wading birds and waterfowls in the city would be protected from encroachment by constructing a compound wall at a cost of Rs 1.18 crore.


The state government has also proposed to produce organic tea by establishing an organic tea plantation in an area of 7.5 hectares in Coonoor this year. Natural and organic inputs would be used to improve the health of the soil, environment and to sustain the yield and quality of the product.


The organic tea would be raised in the Coonoor tea division of the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation corporation (TANTEA) on an experimental basis, according to the policy note on environment and forests departments tabled in the Assembly on Thursday by state forest minister N. Selvaraj.


Also, a new zoo would be established on a 200-hectare land in M.R. Palayam reserve forests in Tiruchy and the work would begin this year.

 

TWAD Board-constructed STP remains unused

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The Hindu 13.07.2009

TWAD Board-constructed STP remains unused

Karthik Madhavan

Confusion over who will take up maintenance of the plant
– PHOTO:M.GOVARTHAN

deadlocked: Veerappan Chatram Municipality has failed to take up the maintenance of the sewage treatment plant constructed by the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board.

ERODE: The sewage treatment plant and gas collection unit the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage (TWAD) Board constructed for Rs. 2.19 crore remains unused.

The reason: Veerappan Chatram Municipality, which is supposed to take responsibility for the day-to-day functioning and maintenance of the facility, has not done so citing one reason or the other. The story goes back to July 2001, exactly eight years ago, when the Board, under the Union Government’s National River Action Plan, constructed sewage collection and treatment facility to treat sewage flowing through Pichaikaran Pallam Odai to protect River Cauvery.

The Board’s facility aimed at removing solid waste from the Odai sewage and then treating the water. It designed the treatment facility in such a way that sewage flows through a series of aeration tanks. In the last tank, it let the sunlight fall to help algae growth and tap gas.

The Board built the facility, proposed to treat 5.7 million litres a day, on a 4.5 acre plot near Vairapalayam and commissioned the plant in 2004.

Since then the Board has not been able to hand over the facility to the Veerappan Chatram Municipality. This is despite the fact that the civic body’s Council passed a resolution in February 2002 agreeing to take up maintenance work. As per TWAD Board’s calculation the maintenance worked out to Rs. 20.79 lakh. It also calculated the income from the sale of treated water, rich in content, for agriculture and the inflammable gas at Rs. 22.36 lakh. But nothing much happened, as the Municipality argued that since sewage from neighbouring Periya Semur Municipality, B.P. Agraharam Town Panchayat also flowed through the Odai, it was unfair to expect it to bear the entire maintenance cost.

The TWAD Board on its part said since the sewage treatment plant and other facilities existed in Veerappan Chatram Municipality’s limits, it ought to take responsibility.

The difference of opinion continues to date with the TWAD Board and Municipality sticking to their stands. To break the deadlock, the Managing Director of TWAD wrote a letter to the Commissioner for Municipal Administration asking for the STP’s take over.

In the meanwhile, the motor that pumps the sewage to the aeration tanks has been under repair for the past three months. This means that for the past three months the TWAD Board has not been able to treat the water.

In effect, sewage directly flows in to River Cauvery, negating the very purpose for which the Union Government spent Rs. 2.19 crore. Now TWAD has again written to the Commissioner for Municipal Administration seeking Rs. 2.6 lakh to repair the motors.

 


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