sudarsan maharana
post news network
Bhubaneswar, June 5: The state government plans to improve urban sanitation through a new Septage Management programme.
The plan comes against the backdrop of polluted rivers flowing by major urban sprawls becoming a major challenge for the state government.
The programme, ‘Improving sanitation though Septage Management’, will be implemented in all 111 urban local bodies in a phased manner to handle waste and their proper treatment, according to sources in the state government.
The urban population in the state is 59.69 lakh and about two-thirds of the total population come under 23 urban local bodies (ULBs) whose populations are 50,000 or more, according to government statistics.
The major challenge for the state government is open defecation in ULBs. Only 49.41 per cent of the households in the state have septic tanks, according to sources. This assumes greater significance as only 2 per cent of the liquid water is treated and the remaining 98 per cent of untreated waste is disposed into ground and surface water bodies.
Many water bodies near ULBs have been hugely contaminated because of such untreated water, according to the Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), sources said.
Discharge from latrines, sewage flowing in drains, effluent from septic tanks and septage and sewage mixed with drain water and open defecation are major concerns which the state government has failed to address.
Rivers such as Brahmani, Mahanadi and its distributaries such as Kuakhai, Daya and Kathajodi do not conform to the designated best use norms after conventional treatment, sources from the OSPCB said. This is evident from the monitoring of the data of samples taken from major urban areas such as Bhubaneswar, Chowdwar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Talcher, Angul, Hirakud, Burla and Sambalpur.
The government plans to go for septage management to deal with the problem, according to an official from the housing and urban development (H&UD) department.
Although underground sewerage system is a solution, of officials said it requires huge investment as well longer implementation period.
“In septage management treatment model sludge will be treated in an anaerobic digester and liquid will be treated in anaerobic baffled reactor and planted gravel filter,” an official said.
“The treated sludge and effluent can be reused in horticulture and for other similar purposes,” he said.
The government will acquire land of 0.5acre in towns having population of 25,000 and 1acre or more in towns or cities having 50,000 and more people for developing this system, according to sources.
The management infrastructure will be developed by Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board on behalf of the ULBs.
The regulatory framework of the programme will involve the levy of a user fee for septage transport, treatment and disposal and standard operating procedure for all stages of septage management and levy of penalty for open defecation, discharge of raw sewage into drains and discharge of septage at places other than the treatment facility or designated place.
A total of `213.75 crore will be invested from 2016-17 to 20118-19, said an officer on condition of anonymity. A separate septage management division will work to monitor its implementation in the ULBs, he said.