Treated water a treat to City

Mangalore City Corporation has taken a major step to reduce its power bill and utilise the water from Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in a productive manner. The civic body incurs huge expenditure on power for streetlights, water supply and treatment plants, and sewage treatment plants.

Though the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) and Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) had signed a pact over the maintenance of STPs, the working on the pact kicked off recently following a board meeting.

A committee headed by the MSEZ Chairman, Deputy Mayor, and MCC Joint Commissioner had held its first meeting few days ago and had discussed in detail the working of the STPs and wet wells.

Speaking to City Herald, MCC Commissioner Dr K N Vijayaprakash who is also a special invitee to the STPs committee, said the STPs are being constructed by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, under its Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Coastal Environmental Management Project. The STP at Kavoor and Pacchanady has already started functioning. The work on STP at Surathkal and Jeppu is in its final stage. The work must have been completed by the end of June.
However, it is likely to be delayed due to rain by two months, said the Commissioner.

At present, the STPs make secondary treatment of the sewage water. However, once its operation and maintenance is taken over by the MSEZ, then it will further treat the water for their requirement.

Under the MoU, the MSEZ would take the treated water from the STPs to meet its requirement. The water requirement for MSEZ is huge. The water from STPs will be treated once again by them before using it, he added.

The Commissioner said the MSEZ and the MCC would bear the operation and maintenance costs of STPs on 70:30 basis. This will result in an annual saving of around Rs 10 crore to Rs 12 crore for MCC. Though there was initial problem in getting approval for the pact from Registrar of Companies, it has been solved now, he added. Of the 22 wet wells, the work on the four wet wells is under progress.

In the board meeting, it was decided to seek a report by the experts on the present status of the two STPs and 18 wet wells in the city. The MSEZ wanted to make sure whether the STPs and wet wells are in good condition, before taking over its maintenance, he added.

The capacity of four STPs is 89 MLD. As MSEZ has technical staff to maintain the STPs and operate it, the MCC had come to terms with the MSEZ for the scientific management of the STPs. Moreover, once everything is ready, then the water from STPs will be used for a productive purpose. It is a win-win situation for the MCC and the MSEZ.

In the first phase, for utilising the water from STPs, the work on laying pipeline from Kavoor to MSEZ area covering 12.8 km pipeline has been completed. The MSEZ will require water for the plants in its surroundings. The water from STPs and wet wells will meet nearly 70 per cent of our water requirements.

Once the pipelines are ready to take the treated water from the STPs, then technical work will be commenced by the MSEZ, he added.