BHUBANESWAR: Over 90 per cent of the sewage generated in the municipal corporations of the state are being directly discharged into water bodies, revealed the latest findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The report indicated gaping holes in the management of sewage in five big cities - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur, where urban growth has outpaced the water treatment infrastructure leading to unregulated discharge into water bodies.
As per the CAG report published recently, out of 558.64 million litre per day (MLD) sewage waste generated in these five municipal corporations in May 2022, only 52.97 MLD, just about 9.48 per cent, was collected by the existing sewerage systems. The remaining 505.67 MLD, which comes to around 90.52 pc was left uncollected, and had been discharged into water bodies.
Out of 216.51 MLD sewage waste generated under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) jurisdiction during the period, only 29.75 MLD had been collected by the existing sewerage systems, while the rest 186.76 MLD were discharged into water bodies.
Similarly in Cuttack, only 20.62 MLD out of a total of 167.20 MLD sewage was collected and the remaining 146.58 MLD was dumped into nearby water bodies.
Rourkela and Sambalpur too, were found to be dealing with a similar problem while in Berhampur Municipal Corporation area, the entire sewage waste was directly discharged to water bodies, the survey revealed.
Only 26.78 pc households were found to be connected to sewer lines in Bhubaneswar, 20.75 pc in Cuttack, 2.86 pc in Rourkela and zero pc in Sambalpur Municipal Corporation area.
According to the CAG, the government had in March 2023 said completion of house sewer connections in these cities will help in increasing waste water.
The reply was not tenable, as the waste generation was calculated at the rate of 80 per cent of water demand instead of water supply, the auditing body stated.