VIJAYAWADA: After making composting units mandatory in apartments and gated communities in the city, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is now planning to make sewage treatment plants (STPs) mandatory for all new apartments and existing ones with above 50 flats. To implement the concept efficiently, the civic body officials are studying STP models in the newly constructed apartments in Bengaluru.
According to the VMC officials, the city with close to 14 lakh population, has been maintaining six STPs at Bhavanipuram, Autonagar, Ramalingeswara Nagar, Ajit Singh Nagar and Jakkampudi, treating the sewage water more than their actual capacities. With this, UGD pipelines connecting to the STPs are indiscriminately flowing into the three irrigation canals passing through the city regularly. This has become a concern for environmentalists and residents as it creates health hazards in the respective localities.
MV Anjaneyulu, former secretary of a city apartment asked, “How can the civic body officials force the public in apartments to maintain STPs on their own when it is such a heavy burden?” He said that almost a year ago, the corporation officials insisted that the apartments generating more than 100 kg of waste should set up composting units on their premises, treating the buildings as bulk waste generators. The initiative has invited sharp criticism from all the apartment dwellers, he said, adding that watchmen in several apartments will quit their jobs due to the additional burden. Anjaneyulu said agitations will be staged if civic body officials make the STPs mandatory.
Speaking to TNIE on Wednesday, VMC chief engineer in-charge JV Rama Krishna said that municipal commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh has directed the officials concerned to prepare a detailed report on the status of STPs in the city and their capacities. Following his directions, the Engineering and Public Health department officials in their report proposed setting up of STPs at apartments in the city to ease the burden on existing plants.
When asked if the implementation of the concept would prove to be a burden on the public, he said that it might cost around `50 lakh to `1 crore for setting up an STP in an apartment for which the VMC will provide necessary technical assistance.
What is Bengaluru’s STP model?
To prevent the water bodies from getting polluted due to sewage flow into it, the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSB) in April 2017 made STPs mandatory for apartments with above 50 flats, built up in 5,000 square metre area after January 2016 without underground drainage facility (UDG). As per the model, the officials also asked the residents to install the dual pipe-lining system for reuse of the water treated from STPs installed on their premises