NEW DELHI: Farmhouses and large organisations such as the railways, the Delhi Development Authority and malls may be directed to close their borewells and switch to treated wastewater, the Yamuna Monitoring Committee appointed by the NGT has suggested.
In a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal recently, the committee said that of the 459 million gallons of wastewater generated daily by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), only 89 MGD is being used. “The common effluent treatment plants of the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation utilise less than 10 per cent of the treated effluent,” it said.
On a visit to the Okhla sewage treatment plant, the two-member panel, comprising retired NGT expert member B S Sajwan and former Delhi chief secretary Shailaja Chandra, found that treated effluent which can be used for other purposes was being discharged into the Agra canal.
The committee has repeatedly stated that potential users of treated effluent need to be identified in a radius of 5 kilometres around each STP, and the DJB should enforce the use of treated water and regulate groundwater and borewell connections in public parks and departmentally-owned green spaces.
Most departments and agencies say there is no piping arrangement to transport the water, the report said, adding, “The DJB says laying so many pipelines will take a long time and cost money.”
“The only way to compel large organisations such as the Delhi Development Authority, railways, malls, and farmhouses to stop using borewell water is if they are forced to close the borewells and switch over to treated wastewater available at several STPs... to be collected by tankers for non-potable purposes,” it said.
Green panel slams Haryana Pollution body
A National Green Tribunal-appointed committee has criticised officials of the Haryana Pollution Control Board (HPCB) for their “inability” to discharge their statutory functions and lack of control over industrial pollution of the Yamuna river. In a report submitted to the NGT, the Yamuna Monitoring Committee said the responsibility for setting up and maintaining sewage treatment plants in Haryana lies with multiple agencies, including the Haryana Shahari Vikash Parishad, Public Health Engineering Department, Urban Local Bodies Department, and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority. “This multiplicity of agencies operating in different cities/towns and rural areas is resulting in lack of coordinated planning and implementation of sewage management in the state.