Panel formed to audit sewage treatment, pumping stations

The government has also decided to publish open data on all STPs and SPSs online by September 13. The decisions were taken in a high-level multi-stakeholder meeting on River Yamuna chaired by Delhi Jal Board  (DJB) chairman Kapil Mishra. It was also decided that DJB will take several initiatives to open data, conduct criticality index studies and infrastructure audit to improve Delhi’s water situation. 

The meeting was attended by senior bureaucrats and water activists including Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, Professor A K Gosain from IIT Delhi and Manu Bhatnagar from INTACH, in their capacity as water experts and activists. 

It was learnt that DJB’s status paper committee (SPC) on STPs and SPSs will comprise Chief Engineer from DJB, PS to Chairman of DJB, Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan and Manu Bhatnagar from INTACH. 

As many as 21 nullahs’ discharge amounting to around 850 MGD of sewage into the Yamuna every day, of which 67 per cent pollution is caused by the Najafgarh drain alone.  

The Yamuna, often called Delhi’s lifeline, is gasping for life. The 22-km stretch along the national Capital has virtually no aquatic life — thanks to over 20 drains that pour untreated sewage and other wastes into the river. 

While 33 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) operational at present treat only 390 MGD of this, even their total combined capacity of 640 MGD is inadequate to treat all of the sewage emptied into the river. 

DJB will also create a rewards scheme for staff below the rank of Executive Engineers with high performance at STPs to incentivise high performance within the organisation.  Further, the board will evaluate criticality index of all drains flowing into Yamuna to assess future steps to clean the river’s drain through a comprehensive study.  

Similarly, it will install emission and quality monitoring systems in all STPs and SPSs to tackle water quality and health-related issues.  During the meeting, it was also decided that DJB will conduct massive sewage infrastructure audit which will ensure a comprehensive review of all drains and pipelines for assessing future robustness and adequacy of water and drainage network for the city.

 

“DJB to prepare septage and sludge management plan for the city of Delhi in collaboration with IIT Delhi,” said DJB officer.