Mumbai: Currently in Mumbai, over more than a dozen metro and other infrastructure projects work is going on, taking a toll on the city’s remaining sparse green cover. Though the authorities have not taken the concerns of environmentalists, citizens seriously, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) while conceptualising other projects seems to have learnt a lesson.
This time, the authority has focused on building a technology driven sewage treatment plant. This is going to be energy efficient and will have environment friendly features. According to the MMRDA, the sewage treatment plant will be constructed at the Wadala Truck Terminal and will have a capacity to treat nine million litres of sewage daily. The plant will be compact in shape by optimising the larger area usage.
The other technology includes low sound motor to control the sound pollution, rotating bio-disc contactor (this system helps in controlling the power load when the circuit is frequently turned off and on) and eco-bio-pack technology which includes the packaging in entirely composted manner. The MMRDA officials said, it plans to construct this plant within a year. Moreover, it expects the contractor to look after the maintenance and operations for five years.
Different authorities in Mumbai are separately planning on the same facilities, independently. A join effort, which has been harped upon previously, is missing, yet again. Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) also wants to construct a similar sewage treatment plant at Wadala near Tejas Nagar. Their plan is to sell the non-potable water to the nearby industrial units.
Since the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is also setting up such treatment plants and re-starting its defunct plants across the city, it fears, it may lose business. Now three development bodies have jumped in the race of setting-up the sewage treatment plants, spending few crores each.
