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Ghaziabad civic body to remediate drains emptying into Hindon
Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad municipal corporation has assigned a project to the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam for tapping untapped drains that flow into river Hindon. Officials
Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad municipal corporation has assigned a project to the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam for tapping untapped drains that flow into river Hindon. Officials said the decision was taken following a government order in which the state government has asked local bodies to get the bio-remediation/phytoremediation of untreated drains emptying into rivers across the state.
In an order on February 3, UP principal secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has given the go-ahead to urban local bodies to utilise the money from either the infrastructure development kitty, state finance commission, 14th finance commission or the local body funds.
“We have taken up the mapping of different drains which flow into Hindon. The Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam has been assigned the project related to such drains in Ghaziabad. The directions from the state came in connection with the directions of the National Green Tribunal,” Dinesh Chandra, municipal commissioner, Ghaziabad, said.
The state officials have directed that no untreated sewage be allowed to empty into rivers or water bodies in the state and have recommended the processes of bio-remediation/phytoremediation or any other process to keep pollutants in check.
Bio-remediation is a process which is done using naturally occurring or deliberately introduced micro-organisms that consume and break down pollutants.
Phytoremediation process involves using various types of plants to remove or destroy contaminants in soil and water.
The major water body in Ghaziabad is river Hindon, which originates from Saharanpur and passes through Ghaziabad. The 300km stretch of the river see a total industrial and sewage discharge of about 674.033 MLD (million litres per day) of which Ghaziabad district accounts for 399.693 MLD of discharge.
Further, the city contributes about 18.49 MLD of untreated effluent discharge and 195.203 MLD of untreated sewage discharge into the river, a report by a joint committee and data from the desk inventory of the UP Pollution Control Board showed.
The entire river stretch from Saharanpur to Ghaziabad has 31 drains falling into the river and 29 of these are untapped while two are partially tapped. The two partially tapped ones are in Ghaziabad while the city also has another seven drains which fall untreated into the river.
The nine drains identified in Ghaziabad are in Sahibabad, Karhera, Dasna, Pratap Vihar, Indirapuram, Arthala, Meerut-Road to Kaila Bhatta, Hindon Vihar and Jawli drains.
“The drains have been a major source of pollution in river Hindon and must be tapped or their water treated. The bio-remediation/phytoremediation can also help. But concerted efforts are required for treating the effluent. If the drains are tapped, pollution of the river can be prevented to a large extent,” Vikrant Sharma, a Ghaziabad resident and environmentalist, said.
