PANAJI
Goa is treating less than half of the sewage it generates, with the State having an installed sewage treatment capacity of 87 million litres per day (MLD) against an estimated sewage generation of 176 MLD, according to information provided in the Rajya Sabha.
The figures mean that Goa has treatment capacity for only around 47 per cent of its daily sewage generation, leaving a capacity gap of nearly 89 MLD.
The operational sewage treatment plants include a 7.5 MLD plant at Colva, 15 MLD and 12.5 MLD plants at Panaji, a 2 MLD plant at Patto, Panaji, a 1 MLD plant at Durbhat, a 20 MLD plant at Vasco, and 20 MLD and 6.7 MLD plants at Margao. The State also has a 15 MLD STP at Kavelem and a 0.8 MLD plant at Sanquelim. With the State generating almost twice the amount of sewage for which it has installed treatment capacity, the government has also moved to tighten regulation of privately operated STPs in hotels, hospitals and residential complexes. The government has mandated such establishments to install online Internet of Things (IoT)-based monitoring systems for their STP equipment within six months. The systems are intended to facilitate continuous monitoring of the functioning of treatment plants and compliance with prescribed discharge standards.
Under the approved guidelines, establishments found violating discharge standards for the first time will have their samples re-tested for confirmation. If the deviation is confirmed, a Rs 5,000 penalty will be imposed, besides the establishment having to bear the cost of re-collection and analysis of samples.
For a second violation, the penalty has been increased to Rs 20,000, while the Goa State Pollution Control Board will undertake a performance evaluation of the STP at the cost of the establishment. Meanwhile, the Goa Sewerage and Infrastructure Development Corporation has been adopting different technologies for expanding sewage treatment and sewerage infrastructure. These include Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR), Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR), Natural Treatment System–Phytorid and Vacuum Sewerage System for STPs. For laying sewer lines, the corporation has used technologies such as Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), Micro Tunnelling (MT) and rehabilitation of existing sewer lines through pipe bursting.
