PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation
(PCMC) has decided to complete work of laying pipelines which will be
connected to the sewage treatment plants. With this move, the discharge
of untreated sewage in the Pavana river is expected to go down by 40
millions litre per day (MLD).

The city, at present, generates
around 271 MLD of sewage. However, only 200 MLD of the sewage is treated
and the rest is discharged in the river without any treatment.

Municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi
said, “The water supply department supplies 415 MLD water to the 17.5
lakh population in the city. The civic body has laid drainage pipes with
a total length of 1,287 km in the city. It has constructed sewage
treatment plants (STP) in various parts of the municipal limits, with a
total capacity to treat 330 MLD. However, in some areas, the STPs are
underutilized, as there is no network of pipelines which can collect the
sewage and move it to the treatment plants”.

With the new
pipelines, the quantity of sewage water that will be treated will
increase from 200 MLD to 240 MLD by end of March 2014. PCMC will try to
discharge treated sewage in the river, particularly in the Pavana river.
Utilization of the STPs in full capacity and discharge of only treated
sewage in the river is a major feature of the Pavana river development
project, he said.

In Pimpri Chincwhad, there are three rivers
that flow through the area – Pavana river, whose 25 km long stretch
passes through the middle of the city, 12 km long Indrayani river passes
through the northern boundary and Mula river whose nine km stretch
passes through the southern boundary.

More than three decades
back, the water of these rivers was potable. But due to the rapid
industrialization and urbanization in Pimpri Chinchwadand nearby areas,
untreated sewage and industrial effluents started being released
untreated into the rivers. This has polluted the rivers and the water
has become non-potable and even unfit for agriculture. Environmental
groups have protested against the discharge of untreated sewage in the
rivers by the municipal corporation.