VISAKHAPATNAM: Taking another step towards making Visakhapatnam a smart city, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has submitted proposals for setting up two major sewage water treatment plants that could treat about 15 million gallons (MGD) of wastewater each per day and supply the same to meet industrial needs. Through this means, the GVMC also aims at reducing sea pollution caused by the release of drainage water and industrial effluents.
Being the largest city in the truncated Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam is increasingly attracting fresh population and drinking water requirements are expected to shoot up shortly beyond the existing supply limits. At present, about 56 MGD of water has been allotted to meet the drinking water needs of the two million people in the city.
In addition, about 20 MGD water is being supplied for industrial purposes to organisations including HPCL, Hindustan Zinc, Visakhapatnam Port and other establishments apart from about 35 MGD being supplied by Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company (VIWSCO) to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and NTPC Simhadri.
With limited water resources available, what with the levels in local water bodies such as Raiwada, Meghadrigedda, Thatipudi and Yeleru reservoirs falling drastically, the officials are facing a difficult time, particularly during summer season. On the other hand, a majority of the sewage water is being diverted into either the Bay of Bengal or local natural water bodies in and around the city.
Observing that such diversion is not only polluting the natural environs of the city but also causing permanent damage to the water resources, particularly the Bay of Bengal, the GVMC officials have proposed to set up at least two wastewater treatment plants at Appu Ghar and Old Town.
“We already have a sewage treatment plant of 1 MGD capacity, which was established in 2011 on a pilot basis. Setting up the new treatment plants would enable us to make optimum usage of available water resources and supply about 15 MGD of treated water for industrial purposes every day. The same quantity of water allocated for industrial purposes can be used for domestic consumers,” a GVMC official said.
The municipal authorities are eyeing to earn revenue worth `287 crore through supply of the treated water for industrial needs over a period of 25 years.