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₹1,500cr plant on anvil to treat Vrishabhavati river: K’taka minister
Karnataka minister for tourism and environment CP Yogeshwar said the state government will spend ₹1,500 crore in five years to build a tertiary treatment facility so that Vrishabhavati river water will be treated and used for agriculture purposes, even as a report by exerts says the civic agencies in the city are responsible for flow of sewage into the river
Karnataka minister for tourism and environment CP Yogeshwar said the state government will spend ₹1,500 crore in five years to build a tertiary treatment facility so that Vrishabhavati river water will be treated and used for agriculture purposes, even as a report by exerts says the civic agencies in the city are responsible for flow of sewage into the river.
“The tertiary treatment facility will be completed in three to five years. Treated water through the tertiary treatment can be utilised for many things except for drinking purposes,’’ Yogeshwar said during his visit to the river on Thursday.
The 57-km-long Vrishabhavathi river used to be a picnic spot in the late 1960s. Because of water pollution, the only river that originates from Bengaluru city now has an alternative name – the Kengeri Mori (Gutter of Kengeri). Vrishabhavati, a tributary of Arkavathi, originates in Bengaluru near the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi and flows through major areas like Guddadahalli, Bapujinagar, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, and Kengeri before it meets Arkavathi near Kanakapura town. The river carries domestic sewage from Bengaluru city and industrial effluents from Peenya, Yeshwanthpura, Kumbalgodu, Bidadi and Harohalli industrial areas.
A report submitted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) points out that it is the civic agencies in the city that are responsible for the current state of the river.
According to the report, the city generates an estimated 1,440 million litres of sewage per day (MLD), a third of this, around 530 MLD, drains into Vrishabhavati; only 260 MLD sewage is treated.
The report states that construction of sewage treatment plants (STPs) – capable of treating 150 MLD sewage -- is in progress. “Still, there is a gap of 200 MLD, which need to be addressed immediately,” the 48-page document states.
“The present sewage flow in Vrishabhavati Valley is 530 MLD and it is expected that the sewage will be 720 MLD by the year 2023. Many local industries dump their waste products directly into the river, which causes pollution and increases the stress on the river. The wastewater treatment plant capacity serving the area does not meet the demand, which further adds stress on the river,” the report read.
The interim report has suggested the issue of disposal of effluents, both domestic and industrial wastewater, and solid waste to be addressed on a priority basis. Some of the short-term measures are fencing the drains, regularly monitoring the quality of wastewater, checking unauthorised developments around the lakes, de-silting and setting up a toll-free number to receive complaints.
Experts say the decay of the river has an impact on Bengaluru’s ecosystem that goes beyond the froth and stench it generates; it could affect the quality of groundwater in the areas that it passes through. Farmers on the outskirts of the city use this water for the cultivation of vegetables that end up on the dining tables of the city’s residents.
“In terms of volume, domestic sewage contributes to the bulk of the pollution. Most households in Bengaluru don’t connect their sewage to the lines provided by the civic authorities. These (sewage) lines are meant to take the domestic effluents to a treatment centre. But the people connect their sewage to stormwater drains, which eventually take it to the river,” said Dr Sharachchandra Lele, a distinguished fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.
According to the experts, the effluents let into the river are slowly making their way back to the city. “The baby corn, other vegetables, fodder and the milk from the cattle from the villages downstream come into the city. If the quality of water the cattle drink and the water that is used for cultivation is bad it could certainly affect the city dwellers directly,” Lele said.
