STPs to be upgraded in Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, October 11

As the disposal of untreated industrial and chemical waste into drains continues, the authorities have launched a project to upgrade sewage treatment plants (STPs) here at a cost of Rs 322 crore. Over 450 MLD of waste is generated daily in the city against a treatment capacity of 120 MLD at present.

Lying ‘defunct’

• As per norms, the city requires functional STPs with the capacity of about 500 MLD, but only one STP with a capacity of 45 MLD is functional at present, said an official who claimed that two of the three STPs having a capacity of 90 MLD were lying defunct from many years
• However, Faridabad Municipal Corporation officials said while the upgrade of two STPs was underway, the third one was functional. With a budget of Rs 332 crore, the upgrade is expected to be done by March 2023, they said

One STP handed over

While a newly built STP of 7.5 MLD is being handed over to the FMDA, another 30-MLD STP was under construction in Badhshahpur village. — Rajiv Sharma, Superintending Engineer, Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran

Sources in the district administration said while almost all untreated waste is dumped underground or into drains, around 100 MLD of waste is generated by industrial units in the city.

They said unsafe disposal had been a prime cause of pollution of underground water and the Yamuna river into which drains release their discharge. They said around 300 manufacturing units here were required to run effluent treatment plants (ETPs) but many of them were not complying with the norms, resulting in illegal discharge of waste.

“We have been facing the problem of stagnated untreated waste water in the industrial sector of 58 for many years,” said an entrepreneur. “Though as per norms, the city requires functional STPs with the capacity of about 500 MLD, only one STP with a capacity of 45 MLD is functional at present,” said an official who claimed that two of the three STPs having a capacity of 90 MLD were lying defunct from many years. However, Faridabad Municipal Corporation officials said while the upgrade of two STPs was underway, the third one was functional. With a budget of Rs 332 crore, the upgrade is expected to be done by March 2023. The MC has also proposed to hand over the STPs to the Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA).

“While a newly built STP of 7.5 MLD is being handed over to the FMDA, another 30-MLD STP was under construction in Badhshahpur village,” says Rajiv Sharma, Superintending Engineer, HSVP. “As a Special Task Force carries out checking of the ETPs of the industrial units, offenders are often imposed with environmental compensation penalties,” says Smita Kanodia, Regional officer, pollution control department.