Govt to sell treated sewage water to power plants along the Ganga

By Nivedita Khandekar

New Delhi, April 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is looking forward to selling treated sewage water to power plants along the Ganga, its Director General G. Ashok Kumar said on Tuesday.

This is one of the several endeavours under the six verticals identified under 'Arth Ganga', where the developments taking place along the Ganga with the NMCG's facilitation can be monetszed to benefit the local community and ensure a circular economy too.

Banking on the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) that are already completed and those in the pipeline, Ashok Kumar said that the NMCG has identified 24 locations that had a power plant nearby. "Of these, 11 locations are where there is a possibility of selling treated water. We have been holding meetings with the Power Ministry and also with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) discussing the issues," he said.

Among the major issue discussed were the distance of the power plant from the STP, which was decided to be less than 50 kms, the user should be ready to lay the pipeline to collect treated sewage water, whether or not the STP would be able to supply 24X7 water and, if needed, whether the user will be ready to install tertiary treatment plant.

"In most cases, the power plants are either lifting water directly from the river, which may be polluted, or using such water which is not being charged. The 'selling of treated sewage water' will ensure better quality of water and also bring in the money," Ashok Kumar said.

A similar experiment is already underway with Mathura refinery wherein 20 MLD of the treated sewage water will be provided to the refinery as part of the MoU already signed.

"There were certain things holding this up but now the STP is ready. We are conducting trials now and are sure, by May 15, we shall be able to supply treated water to the Mathura refinery," the DG said.

By June 2022, the NMCG is looking at completing 28 projects with 32 STPs with 954.5 MLD in addition to the existing 73 projects with total capacity of 973.2 MLD.

Source: IANS