KOCHI: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA), which has been on the lookout for a space to treat the city’s sewage waste, will soon set up a plant at Elamkulam. According to KWA officials, tenders will be floated this week for the project and they are confident to start the work in three months.
The hi-tech plant using the most modern technology will come up adjacent to the existing waste treatment plant at Elamkulam. The project is being funded by Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and is expected to be a breather for the city which is drowning in sewage and septic waste.
“The old plant was set up in 1950 and was inaugurated by then President Rajendra Prasad. Though we have the expertise to currently treat the excess sewage waste, we only have the facility to treat to less than eight per cent (10 mld) of the sewage waste generated in the city,” said KWA Ernakulam superintendent Anil Kumar.
The new plant can treat a bigger chunk of the sewage waste and will have greater capacity than the existing plant. “Once the plant becomes a reality, the sewage problems at Gandhinagar, Kadavanthra and General Hospital locality may come to an end. Over 80 per cent of the sewage waste in the city is directly or indirectly expelled into water bodies such as wells, canals among others,” Anil Kumar said.
He, however, added that only with the cooperation of the public can the plant be utilised to its full capacity. “Right now, the existing plant only covers a few locations in Kochi and its outskirts. People have a lot of inhibitions with securing ‘sewage waste connection’ from the KWA. People are apprehensive that roads need to be dug up which will cause them a lot of inconvenience. Also, many of them don’t even know that we provide sewage waste connections at houses,” Anil Kumar added.
The KWA has a herculean task to implement the sewage kits at homes. “Though many homes have facilities for expelling their sewage waste, it is not properly sealed which results in the waste water entering the soil. This is where our expertise comes in and we ensure that the waste is properly treated. The sewage waste pipes from the homes will be connected to a six-metre deep manhole which will be identified by the KWA in the resident locality. It will then be connected to the waste treatment plant at Elamkulam,” officials said.
New plant