New Delhi: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday reviewed progress of the ambitious interceptor sewer project aimed at controlling pollution in Yamuna by preventing flow of untreated water into it.
She visited the project site at Kakrola Mod in South West Delhi along with her Cabinet colleagues Haroon Yusuf and Arvinder Singh Lovely besides top officials of Delhi Jal Board including its CEO Debashree Mukherjee.
A 59-km-long sewer at the depth of 20 to 60 feet will be laid at a cost of Rs 1,978 crore along the river as part of the project to contain pollutants being released into the river by three major drains.
"I am very happy with the progress. Major drains and the river are expected to be sewage pollution free within three years after completion of the project which is a major step towards cleaning the Yamuna," said Dikshit.
The Interceptor Sewer Project is a major initiative being undertaken by Delhi Jal Board to control pollution in the river Yamuna.
The Interceptor Sewer is being laid along the three major drains -- Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahdara to intercept sewage flowing from the subsidiary small drains. The sewage will be taken to the nearest Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to ensure that only treated sewage is discharged into the river.
The man objective of the project is to direct the untreated sewage to the existing Sewage Treatment Plant (STPs) and allow only treated effluent into the three drains.
Officials said the system will act as an interceptor sewer till the sewerage system is laid in all the un-sewered areas and thereafter, it will be used as the trunk sewer.
The sewage from over 1600 un-authorized colonies and other unsewered areas, including rural villages and Jhughi Jhopri clusters will be trapped before it is permitted to reach all the major drains.
The effluent generated will be treated to a level where it can be utilised for non-potable purposes.
Governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and MCD, DDA, Delhi Small Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Upper River Yamuna Board are the other key stakeholders in the cleaning of Yamuna.
The objective is to direct the untreated sewage to the existing sewage treatment plants (STP`s) and allow only treated effluents into the drains.
Dikshit said the project will benefit the inhabitants of
unauthorised colonies with around 60 to 70 lakh people.
The quality of Yamuna river which at present is around 41 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) will come to 12 BOD after this sewage system comes into work, she said. BOD is the measure of effluents of water and low BOD is generally desirable.
Suggesting that the capital is already saddled with burgeoning water demand, she said that although the treated water wouldn`t be fit for "drinking" it can still be used in other cleaning, watering and planting purposes.
"This water wouldn`t be fit for drinking. For horticulture, watering plants and other cleaning purposes this will be beneficial," she said.
Taking the opportunity to drive home the point of saving and conserving water and electricity, Dikshit appealed to Delhiites to do the needful.
"portable and clean water is a problem, We have worked to commensurate it with rising population. The success which we want isn`t quite what we want. The biggest problem is wastage of water.
"Unless we conserve, unless we save..... Water is not unlimited, it is one of our greatest challenges. For the next generation we need to start preserving," said Dikshit.
"Even electricity needs to be preserved. In the past 3-4 years there has been a tremendous increase in the consumption, it is now around 5500 MW," added Dikshit.
PTI
