YOU MAY have to pay the municipal agencies for disposing of your household wastewater and sewage if the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) plan to implement the concept of ‘Polluter Pays’ gets nod of the Central Government.
Additional Director, CPCB, Delhi, RC Trivedi said here on Friday that the concept had already been talked about in the National Environment Policy, 2006, but it needed to be converted into law. Throughout the world, municipal agencies charge residents for flushing waste into sewer lines. However, in India it’s though that sewage ‘belongs’ to municipal bodies.
Speaking at the national workshop on ‘Development of Water Quality Management Plan’, he said the biggest problem regarding water quality across the country was the presence of coliform in the surface water. This, he added, was the result of disposal of sewerage and wastewater into clean water bodies.
“Sewage treatment is the only solution to the problem, but that requires huge investment,” he said.
“Almost 29,000 million litres of sewage waste is generated every day in our country and we have only 234 sewage treatment plants with a total capacity to treat only 7,000 million litres waste every day. Top bridge the gap, an investment of Rs 29,000 crore is required,” Trivedi said. He said that the Centre had taken the initiative and prepared a National River Action Plan under which sewage treatment plants would be made on 19 rivers. For small-scale industries, the Government had built 134 common effluent treatment plants, added Trivedi.
{{/usCountry}}“Almost 29,000 million litres of sewage waste is generated every day in our country and we have only 234 sewage treatment plants with a total capacity to treat only 7,000 million litres waste every day. Top bridge the gap, an investment of Rs 29,000 crore is required,” Trivedi said. He said that the Centre had taken the initiative and prepared a National River Action Plan under which sewage treatment plants would be made on 19 rivers. For small-scale industries, the Government had built 134 common effluent treatment plants, added Trivedi.
{{/usCountry}}He said domestic wastewater was the prime source of pollution. UP had the largest polluted water riverines after Maharashtra and there was need for massive efforts in sewage treatment with public private partnerships.