"The project has been submitted for the cabinet's approval and the government will have to decide on the funding pattern. Work will begin soon after these formalities are completed," said BWSSB chairman P B Ramamurthy.

According to the DPR, nearly 2,000 km of UGD lines, including lateral and trunk lines, would be laid at an estimated cost of `2,300 crore. The UGD lines laid in these villages would be connected to the nearest sewage valley through trunk sewers. The villages covered under the DPR are scattered around the city. New trunk lines have to be laid to connect them to the existing ones that lead to the sewage valleys.

These 110 villages are in addition to the newlyadded CMCs for which, the government got `1,300 crore sanctioned from the World Bank recently.

Presently, these villages are directing their sewage to the septic tanks on private lands. The number of such septic tanks have increased drastically in these villages, due to rapid urbanisation. Industrial activity is also increasing around the villages. These factors make laying of UGD lines a priority, to prevent groundwater from getting contaminated.

Replacing trunk sewers

The BWSSB is replacing trunk sewers in the core areas of the city too, as part of its environmental action plan. The work on replacing 36 km of trunk sewers under the first package of the plan is nearing completion. The board has invited tenders to replace 80 km of trunk sewers under the second package. The government has yet to approve the third package to replace 110 kmlong trunk sewers lines.