Treated wastewater will keep S Delhi parks green
ENOUGH GREY WATER Seven STPS will be installed at nurseries in Maharani Bagh, Greater Kailash I, Saket, Punjabi Bagh, Siddharth Extension, Sarita Vihar and Jangpura Extension
NEW DELHI: Parks and gardens in seven south Delhi neighbourhoods will soon have enough water to maintain the greenery. And the help will come locally.
In the next six months, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will set up sewer treatment plants (STP) to treat wastewater generated in homes in the neighbourhood.
These sewage treatment plants, situated in the same locality, will generate enough grey water to keep local parks watered throughout the year, SDMC municipal commissioner Puneet Goel said. The seven STPS will be installed at nurseries in Maharani Bagh, Greater Kailash I, Saket, Punjabi Bagh, Siddharth Extension, Sarita Vihar and Jangpura Extension by September this year.
A month ago, the civic agency had decided to promote decentralised sewage treatment plants to deal with the wastewater load and encourage recycling of treated water for functions such as horticulture and irrigation.
Each of the seven STPS will treat one lakh litres of water every day, which will be used in 108 parks, mostly bigger than one acre.
“The STPS will use water from stormwater drains and treat it using the moving bed biofilm reactor technology. Then it will be supplied in parks through pipelines. Once made fully functional, these STPS will treat seven lakhs litres of water every day and cover 88.19 acres of area,” Puneet Goel, commissioner of SDMC, said.
“In this context, the National Green Tribunal has also directed all urban municipalities to use treated wastewater for horticulture,” a senior horticulture official said.
Presently, half of the city’s parks have bore wells but most of them have dried up because of the depleting groundwater levels. This has raised the demand for STP water for parks.
“With groundwater levels depleting to over 180 feet in Pushp Vihar and other rocky areas of Delhi, there has been focus on curtailing its use for horticulture and other such services,” said Shashank Shekhar, a geologist from Delhi University.
“Installing decentralised STPS is a welcome step provided there is regular monitoring of the water generated from these plants. Pol- luted water will not only affect the growth of plants but also emit bad smell,” said Shekhar.
Manoj Misra, convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, said the initiative, if implemented at a mass level, will help reduce the quantity of polluted water going to the Yamuna.
AREA OF CHALLENGES
Depending on the response from these seven STPS, the SDMC will take a decision on installing more such plants.
STATUS OF PREVIOUS PROJECTS
Last year, the SDMC had launched a project to supply water in over 650 parks through the Delhi Jal Board’s STPS at Okhla, Vasant Kunj, Pappankalan and Keshopur. But the process for laying of pipelines is yet to be completed. “The STPS are quite far from the neighbourhood parks and a lot of time was wasted in taking permission from other departments for digging major roads, shifting other utility services before laying the pipelines. We hope to complete the project this year,” said the official.
“With the establishment of decentralise STPS in neighbourhoods, we will not face such issues,” he said.