PUNE, Feb 21: The sewage treatment plants (STPs) of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have the capacity to treat only half of the city?s sewage and the remaining half is being disposed without treatment, said Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi.
Leader of the opposition Vikas Mathkari alleged during the general body meeting on Thursday that the sewage was being directly disposed into the Mutha river in some parts of the city and asked for information about the STPs condition.
Pardeshi, in reply, stated that the PMC would find out the gaothan areas from where the sewage was being disposed without treatment.
He said that the city was generating about 700 to 800 MLD of sewage per day and the total capacity of the STPs was only 305 MLDs.
He agreed that the remaining sewage was being disposed without treatment.
Mathkari further alleged that the contracted STPs were not functioning with full capacity and demanded action against them. Other corporators also demanded that the commissioner himself should survey the situation.
The civic chief sought three weeks? time to survey the sewage system.
Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale asked the commissioner to table a report in a month.
The PMC has four STPs in the city and another five have been proposed in the draft budget for which Rs 160 crores have been proposed. The proposed STPs are at Naidu Hospital (115 MLDs), Mundhwa (45 MLDs), Baner (30 MLDs), Vitthalwadi (32 MLDs), and Kharadi (40 MLDs).
The PMC has also received proposals for STPs under the JNNURM, which are for Bhairoba Nallah (80 MLDs), Mangalwar Peth (30 MLDs), Kalyaninagar (30 MLDs), Warje (30 MLDs) and Tanajiwadi (30 MLDs).
Biosanitiser in cold storage
AMOL KAPOLE
PUNE: Twelve years after the invention of an eco-chip by city-based Bhavalkar Ecological Research Institute, the chip has found few takers despite being a cost-effective and user-friendly medium of sewage treatment.
Dr Uday Bhavalkar, an IIT Mumbai scientist, had developed a biosanitiser, which can be used to treat any waste to convert into resources.
Developed in 1996, the biosanitiser is a self-operating and self-improving system. It does not need any machinery or electricity to treat wastage and it does not even produce sludge or greenhouse gasses.
Dr Bhavalkar said that the biosanitiser is a compact ?eco-chip? that can correct natural as well as man-made pollution. What is important is only 100 mg of biosanitiser works with the same speed and efficiency that one acre of natural forest can do, he added.
When it is kept in contact with fluids, it converts the inorganic pollution into resources and foul odor gets transformed into fresh air.
What the biosanitiser does is that it produces oxygen while absorbs carbondioxide. The oxygen takes care of the organic pollution, odor, pathogens and pests. It also absorbs the heat and creates cool atmosphere. Thus, it is an important tool to fight global warming.
It converts garbage into organic fertilisers and sewage into liquid organic fertilisers, Dr Bhavalkar said, adding that if put in fuel, one would get 25 per cent increase in mileage and considerable reduction in carbon monoxide emission.
Although the technology was invented 12 years back, few institutions have shown willingness to use it, said Dr Bhavalkar.
Taj Hotel in Madurai has been using this system for almost 10 years for waste management, and recently, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) started using it on a pilot project for sewage treatment.
Speaking to the Herald, NMC deputy engineer Nitin Magare said that the biosanitiser is being used in two STPs with a capacity of 78 and 4.5 MLD for the past eight months.
--------------------------------------
- The eco-chip can convert waste into a resource
- Developed in 1996, it is a self-operating and self-improving system
- It does not need any power or machinery to treat sewage
- 100 mg of biosanitiser is equal to one acre of forest land
--------------------------------------
MAHARASHTRA HERALD
22/2/08
http://www.sakalherald.com/mh/sakalherald/rightframe.html
amol.kapole@sakaaltimes.com
