JOIN US'Sewage can light up your house'
Have you ever thought that the sewage flowing in the drainage just beside your courtyard has the potential to light up your house? Possible, one may say, after looking at the experiment being done at the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), all set for functioning, at Mullakadu near Kavoor.
The new STP of Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environmental Management Project (KUDCEMP) built for Mangalore City Corporation has a separate “gas holder” where the methane gas separated from the sewage will be stored. “The methane will be used for power generation, which in turn will be used for running the treatment plant. However, production of methane and the subsequent generation of power depends on the inflow of sewage into the plant,” Y Prasad, a process engineer from L&T, working for the plant, told a team led by Mayor M Shanker Bhat on Thursday.
The Mayor accompanied by the Opposition leader, Standing Committee heads, councillors and officials visited the STP at Mullakadu and the solid waste compost plant at Pachanady and reviewed the progress achieved in the twin projects. The team found that the STP is ready for functioning, and hence the City Corporation can take over it from the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC).
However, Shanker Bhat informed media persons later that the fulfledged functioning of the plant would take some more time, since the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded underground drainage (UGD) works were yet to be completed in the MCC limits.
“Once the UGD works are complete and the sewage of the entire city reaches the plant properly, the STP will work in its full capacity. The works of some wet wells also need to be completed. The MCC is in the last stage of the pact with Mangalore Special Economic Zone according to which the water treated in the plant will be supplied to the MSEZ,” the Mayor said. “It has also been agreed that the plant will be handled by the MSEZ, for it uses the treated water from it,” he added.
Earlier, explaining how sewage is treated in the plant, engineer Prasad said the process includes removal of organic and inorganic contents. “From the inorganic content, floating and sedimentable materials will be separated. After anaerobic and aerobic methods of treatment, the water becomes so clean that it can be drunk. It can be used both for industries and agriculture,” he said.
After visiting the solid waste management plant at Pachanady, the Mayor said the compost plant is certainly in a good condition but its potential is not being utilised fully. “The plant has already produced 65 tonnes of compost out of the garbage. The construction of the vermiculture unit is complete but its production process is yet to begin,” Bhat informed.
MCC Environment Engineer Madhu S M said the plant can produce 10 tonnes of compost in a day if it works in its full scale.