Effluent plants fail to meet set norms

Toxics from industries choke Yamuna

Out of the 13 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) in Delhi, five were recently found to be not meeting prescribed norms.

The findings are of a joint inspection carried out by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and IIT Delhi of CETPs of Delhi from October 21, 2015 to November 28, 2015.

The 13 CETPs treat the effluents generated by industries in various parts of the capital so as to prevent the toxics from flowing into the Yamuna River.

However, the inspection has found that only eight out of these 13 plants are complying with the prescribed standards.

According to a report prepared after the inspection, the composite samples were analysed for general parameters i.e. pH, Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) at the CPCB laboratory.

As per the report, out of the five CETPs, values at two (Mayapuri and GTK) were found “marginally exceeding” prescribed norms, two (Okhla and Naraina) were “moderately exceeding” and one CETP at Lawrence Road was found “grossly exceeding” prescribed norms.

For example, the CETPs at Lawrence Road, Okhla, and Naraina are releasing treated water with BODs of 146 mg/l, 76 mg/l, and 75 mg/l respectively as against the prescribed standard of 30 mg/l.
“The reason for non-compliance of CETP at Okhla and Naraina may be attributed to receipt of domestic sewage by both for which biological treatment is needed and in case of CETP at Lawrence Road, it may be attributed to the strong quality of effluent received by it for which also biological treatment is needed,” the report said.

Besides, out of these 13 CETPs, seven were found receiving influent quality with concentration of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, zinc, etc, more than the prescribed standards.

Toxics from industries and untreated sewage choke the river as the existing infrastructure to treat water before it flows into Yamuna does not work efficiently.

Optimum capacity
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had last year imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Delhi government for its “failure to give a clear picture on CETPs” and had constituted a team to carry out the inspection to see if they are operating to their optimum capacity.

The NGT was also told that the 13 treatment plants together treat the effluents from only 17 industrial clusters out of a total of 28 in Delhi and the remaining 11 do not have CETPs.

However, an official of Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) on Tuesday said the remaining 11 “do not need to have CETPs”.

“The 11 clusters which are left out only have sewage and not industry effluents, so they do not need a CETP and the sewage can be treated through Sewage Treatment Plant (STP),” he told Deccan Herald.