Treating sewage water: KMC takes cue from Champdani civic body

Kolkata: With an aim to find a way to stop the wastage of drinking water for non-potable purposes, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has now decided to follow Champdani Municipality which has recently installed a machine for treating drainage water that was previously being drained into the Hooghly River.

The KMC has been looking for alternatives to stop the wastage of drinking water in the city. Complaints have reached Mayor Firhad Hakim that potable water is being used for washing cars, roads or watering trees. The mayor had suggested that KMC will set up filling stations at its sewage treatment plants (STP) so re-used water can be used for non-potable purposes. Hakim informed that as a part of a pilot project, two such stations have been set up at EM Bypass and at Southern Avenue. “If this works out well then more of such stations will be set up,” he remarked.

It was learnt that recently KMC officials along with the municipal commissioner Binod Kumar visited Champdani Municipality in Hooghly which has installed a machine with a modern technology that is recycling drainage water for non-potable use.

The Champdani Municipality has installed the machine in the area surrounding the Hooghly River. The municipality’s chairman Suresh Mishra is learnt to have told the media that earlier drainage water used to be drained into the river through a drainage system beside Palta Ghat. The municipality had long been planning to figure out ways of recycling this drainage water. It was learnt that at a cost of approximately Rs 22 lakh a machine was recently installed which is now successfully treating the drainage water for reuse and has helped stop pollution of the river.

Meanwhile, sources said that KMC has also consulted experts of IIT Kharagpur to suggest ways on how to treat drainage water which can be used for non-drinking purposes. It was learnt that the experts have also asked the civic body to bring in samples of drainage water so the extent of pollutants in the water can be determined and likewise suggest ways to treat it so it can be reused for non-potable purposes.