The Times of India                  11.05.2013

Greater Noida to get its first sewage treatment plant

GREATER NOIDA: The city will finally get its own sewage treatment plant (STP) as construction of the first 146MLD unit has been completed. The plant is expected to become functional by next week. Constructed at a cost of Rs 500 crore, the STP is based on the modern Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) technology and the Authority will use the treated water for irrigation and construction purposes.

Though Greater Noida was formed in 1991, the city is yet to get a sewage treatment plant. Till a few years ago, all untreated waste was being discharged into the Hindon River. The Authority has of late been treating this discharged waste with chemical oxidation, an extremely slow process.

While work on the sewage plant had begun over three years ago, the authorities had to halt the work for almost a year following an Allahabad high court order restricting all development work in the city till the Master Plan 2021 was cleared by the NCR Planning Board.

"Due to planned development all sectors in the city have been provided with underground sewerage, but even after 20 years no STPs could be constructed. However, the new plant is finally ready and will become operational in the next few days. The installation of the state-of-the-art plant will not only guarantee a clean environment, ensure better quality of treated water and stop the use of groundwater for irrigation, but will also prevent further pollution of the Hindon to a great extent," an official said.

The Authority has also notified seven more STPs with upgraded technology at various spots across the city and all the new units have also been notified in the improvised Master Plan 2021.

The Authority has now proposed to become a 'zero discharge city' by 2021. The proposed STPs that will treat 414MLD of waste will come up at Phase-II, Ecotech 6, Tech Zone, Ecotech 2, Sector 1, Ecotech 3 and Kasna.

"The population of Greater Noida is constantly increasing. Besides the new development projects will result in additional population. Keeping this in mind, the new STPs are being developed. The new plants will take care of the sewer problem for the next 20 years and can serve a population of 25 lakh," the Authority official said.