There’s hope in the sea of sewage. Located in the easternpart of Panjim, the 12.5mld capacity sewage treatment plant is believed to bean ideal facility for the treatment of sewage and other waste from the city.
While the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has struggledto solve its garbage issues, the treatment of raw sewage and the maintenance ofthe sewerage system has been a fine example of handling waste.
The plant at St. Inez which uses c-technology fromAustralia handles 7 to 8 million litres of sewage a day and has the capacity tohandle up to 20 million litres.
The Goa plant has become a showpiece as experts andministers from various government ministries have visited this plant andexpressed their satisfaction at the quality of treated water produced.
The 27 year old sewerage pipeline in Panjim which covers a45 km radius ends at the sewerage treatment plant. The officials at thetreatment plant are however worried about the frequent digging in the city tolay or rectify underground communication or electricity cables. There have beeninstances in which the sewerage pipeline has been ruptured causing healthconcerns.
According to the STP, executive engineer C.K. Radhakrishan,Panjim division, 90% of the city is covered under the STP network pipeline. Hesaid “We attend to every complaint within 48 hours. A major problem is the sewageblockage due to the hotels and restaurants using oil to prepare food”.
There are reportedly more than 90 private tankers whichcollect sewage from hotels, residencies and other establishments on a dailybasis.
A single private tanker charges around Rs 3,000 to Rs5,000 from hotel or residence owner to lift their sewage while the treatmentplant charges each tanker approximately Rs 500 every time the truck enters theplant yard resulting in a revenue of over five lakh rupees every month.
Most of the private sewage tankers conduct business withhotels and restaurants in north Goa coastal belt. During the tourist season twoto three trips per day is considered routine for a private sewage tankeroperator.
