50% Agra sewage water dumped into Yamuna daily

Arvind Chauhan,TNN | Jan 28, 2015

AGRA: A clean Yamuna might be a distant dream yet. Almost half of Agra's waste water is discharged untreated into the Yamuna daily due to shortage of sewage treatment plants (STP), according to the Yamuna Pollution Control Unit (YPCU), UP Jal Nigam. 

The city produces 320.75 million liter per day (mld) of untreated waste water, of which only 180.25 mld is treated in nine sewage treatment plants (STP), two of which are owned by private firms. YPCU officials warn that unless six more STPs with a combined capacity of 130 mld are operationalized soon, the river water will be poisoned. 

Speaking to TOI, Khalid Ahmad, YPCU project manager, said, "In 2013, we had sent a proposal to the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme to construct six STPs worth Rs 1,400 crore to treat 130 mld of waste water. But the scheme was scrapped after the new government came to power, and we are now waiting for the government to launch a new welfare program so that we can resend the proposal." 

According to the proposal, Ahmad said, the current STPs, which are managed by the Jal Nigam, need upgradation along with construction of new sewer lines. Over and above this, six new STPs are required, including one in the north zone of the city with a capacity of 20 mld; three in the south zone, namely Phase I with a capacity of 16 mld, Phase II with 24 mld and Phase III with 14 mld; a 20mld plant in the east zone; and one 36mld plant in the west zone. 

"Of the six, the west zone plant is under construction but we need more money to complete it," Ahmad said. 

The current STPs cannot treat chemical waste water produced by factories, and this is wantonly discharged into the main drainage system without proper treatment, sources in the YPCU said. 

Anand Kumar Anand, regional officer of Uttar Pradesh pollution control board, said, "We have given six months to private factories to shift their plants out of the city and install STPs to treat chemical waste water before dumping it into river." ​​

​More than Rs 1,500 crore has been spent over two decades in cleaning the Yamuna.

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