To clean Vrushabhavathi, water to be pumped to Nayandahalli STP

Here’s another initiative to clean the dirty, murky Vrushabhavathi valley. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) will spend Rs 30-35 crore to divert 80 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) water from the valley to an underused sewage treatment plan (STP) in Nayandahalli and thence to industries in Bidadi and farmers in Ramanagaram for irrigation.

KSPCB chairman Lakshman told DH that the project was one of the several measures the state government had planned to clean up the tributary of Arkavathi River. The project will be implemented jointly by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and the Minor Irrigation Department.

The STP at Nayandahalli has the capacity to treat 180 MLD water a day but is treating only 100 MLD. As much as 80 MLD untreated water from Vrushabhavathi will be pumped to the STP. Once treated at the plant, some water will be released to industries in Bidadi as well as farmland of Ramanagaram district for irrigation, Lakshman said.

The Minor Irrigation Department will pump the water from Bidadi to Ramanagaram — a distance of 30 km — and has submitted a Rs 100-crore project plan to the state Cabinet.

Lakshman said the BWSSB had been asked to submit a detailed project report to the KSPCB which would then forward it to the Cabinet for approval.

The KSPCB chairman asserted that no additional land acquisition was required for the project. However, the agencies involved in the project were ascertaining whether they needed clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority as pipelines were required to be laid in the valley’s buffer zone.

Vrushabhavathi flows for 97 sq km, covering most of western Bengaluru. There are already four STPs on Vrushabhavathi valley — Nalasandra (20 MLD), Kempambudhi (1 MLD), Nagasandra (75 MLD) and VVTP (180 MLD). According to BWSSB officials, at a given point in time, the STPs collectively work at no more than 80% of installed capacity.