With central government teams expected to visit the city for sanitation inspection on Saturday, the Chandigarh municipal corporation has once again applied for “Water +” status for the City Beautiful.
Chandigarh had received the Water + certification, the highest sanitation certification awarded to cities, in the first go in 2022.
It aims to ensure that no untreated wastewater is discharged into water bodies/open environment; 100% on-site and off-site wastewater management; public toilets and community toilets are easily accessible to public; adequate infrastructure in place to treat 100% generated wastewater in a city; all domestic used water, including septage released from households, commercial establishments and institutions, is collected and treated as per CPHEEO and CPCB guidelines; and other water-related issues.
To standardise sanitation outcomes and to measure the levels of cleanliness, protocols for ODF, ODF+, ODF++, Water + were introduced by the Union government.
Since 2016, 4,317 cities across India have been given ODF status, 3,354 cities ODF+, 964 cities ODF++ and 14 Water +.
“Chandigarh has not only been able to collect and safely treat used water, but also has been re-using at least 20% of treated wastewater after secondary and tertiary treatment. We have re-applied for the Water+ certification. Chandigarh has done its best to get the status. The civic body ensured 303 public toilets and 28 community toilets at adequate distance catering to 12.7 lakhs citizens of Chandigarh,” said MC commissioner Anindita Mitra.
{{/usCountry}}“Chandigarh has not only been able to collect and safely treat used water, but also has been re-using at least 20% of treated wastewater after secondary and tertiary treatment. We have re-applied for the Water+ certification. Chandigarh has done its best to get the status. The civic body ensured 303 public toilets and 28 community toilets at adequate distance catering to 12.7 lakhs citizens of Chandigarh,” said MC commissioner Anindita Mitra.
{{/usCountry}}“Chandigarh’s sewage treatment plants are sufficient to treat 100% of the sewage generated in the city and the entire city is connected to sewerage system. Also, a minimum of 25% wastewater is being reused after treatment at city level. Not only this, we have made a schedule to repair, clean and desilt all municipal drains both pre- and post-monsoon. Bar screens are placed at the tail end, SWD junctions and roadside gully traps,” Mitra added.
Also, all complaints pertaining to choked sewers, leakage of sewage, waterlogging, uncovered manholes and drain cleaning were being addressed timely, she said.