Indian Express 12.04.2010
Low-cost sewage treatment: PMC, citizens innovate
NitinPatil Tags : corporation, sewage treatment plant Posted: Monday , Apr 12, 2010 at 2253 hrs
While it would have required Rs 15 lakh for the civic body just for electricity to treat the the contaminated nullah water, the water pollution level has come down by 65 per cent just by raising bunds and iron screens across the nullah, making life easier for residents as the odour has almost disappeared.
Based on a premise put forth by a local citizen, Ajay Vaishampayan, the civic body agreed to implement this project and set aside Rs 5 lakh for the infrastructure.
The city based Shrishti Eco Research Institute provided the technical support.
“After last year's rains, we started off this project and it took us about three months to complete it. But before we could go ahead with the project, we had to clear off the path of the nullah. The volume of plastic litter and other waste we removed was about fifty truckloads.
Once the nullah path was cleared, we put up two bunds and three iron screens at different locations. These screens obstructed the path of waste material and it was easy to collect the waste and remove it at one go,” Sandeep Joshi, director of Shristhi Institute.
The local citizens were also made aware that throwing the garbage into the stream was not a good thing and as people were diverted from doing it, things started changing for better.
“Earlier, the same nullah used to give out a offensive odour. However, now, there is hardly any bad smell and the water coming out of the screens and bunds no more as contaminated as it was in the past. Along the nullah, saplings of indigenous species of trees have been planted, which also soak in contaminated water,” Vaishampayan said.
“There are about 150 nullahs in the city and if we implement a similar project on each one of it, we will be able to save the river water from contamination in some way at leastough natural methods. The civic body, local citizens and a research institute have together improved the water quality of the once-dirty nullah to make its presence bearable to the residential societies located along it.This, ,” an official from the garden department of the PMC said.
