The Hindu Business Line : AP Govt to set up Rs 600-cr sewerage treatment plants

IN a bid to significantly reduce pollution levels, the Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to set up five sewerage treatment plants (STPs) in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad at a cost of Rs 600-crore, according to the State Principal Secretary, Environment & Forest Department, Mr Tishya Chatterjee.

He announced this at a press conference held here on Monday with regard to a two-day National Seminar on `Relevance of common effluent treatment plants for environmental protection' scheduled to begin on March 10.

According to Mr Chatterjee, these wastewater treatment plants would come up at Amberpet, Nagole, Khairatabad, Ziaguda and Attapur.

These plants, which would take off in the next couple of years, would increase the waste water treatment capacity of the twin cities to 800 million litres per day from the existing capacity of 350 mld.

Stating that the State currently has two common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) for the industrial requirements, he said more CETPs were required in the city and other places in the State in view of the increasing industrial activity in the city outskirts and major towns.

The State currently has around 275 registered industrial estates that were discharging industrial wastes in the nearby lakes.

According to him, the existing practice of setting up CETPs after the construction and take-off of industrial zones was not warranted.

He preferred establishment CETPs before the industrial activity began.

Mr Chatterjee also said that the Government preferred vertical treatment plants in place of existing horizontal CETPs.

The Government would take these issues into consideration before setting up CETPs in the new industrial areas, he said.

Further, he preferred the setting up of CETPs at the lowest point of the sub-basin before establishing the industrial estates, which would help check industrial pollution to a large extent. Accordingly, the Government is setting up a modern CETP in these lines at the Pharma City coming up at Parawada near Visakhapatnam, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Patancheru Enviro Tech Ltd Director, Mr B.V. Ramana Murthy, said work on the laying of 22.5 km pipeline to bring treated effluents from Patancheru to main sewage line near Kukatpally was on the verge of completion.

The pipeline project, taken up following a Supreme Court order at a cost of Rs 12.5-crore, would enable the industrial wastewater to be treated to the sewage standards and leave it in the sewage line.

Allaying apprehensions on the risk of transportation of the industrial wastewater, Mr Murthy said when the treated wastewater reaches Amberpet sewerage treatment plant it would have diluted 140 times.

According to the Executive Director of Jeedimetla Effluent Treatment Ltd, Mr K. Lakshmana Rao, ever since the inception of the first CETP in the industrial development area of Jeedimetla and its successful operation, the concept of treating industrial wastewaters at a common facility has proven to be a viable option for treating and disposing industrial wastewaters.

These CETPs provide techno-economically viable solution for treatment of the wastewaters of small and medium industries.

Stating that around 120 CETPs were either operational or were under implementation across the country, Mr Rao, however, said many details pertaining to the concept, design, efficient operation, management and relevant economies of these plants were not discussed amongst the stakeholders.

The proposed national seminar would facilitate interaction and exchange of information among operators of various CETPs, regulatory bodies, research organisations, NGOs and universities towards further improvement of the performance of CETPs.

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