Mumbai will soon have two recycling plants in the city. It is expected that these recycling plants will recycle 250 million litres of water every day. Speaking to CIJ, Additional Municipal Commissioner Anil Diggikar of MCGM said, “We are planning to have seven sewage treatment plants in the city. These plants would match the requirements of Ministry of Environment and Forest and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.”
The municipal corporation supplies 3400MLD of water everyday out of which 2500MLD per day is discharged into the sea. So MCGM has decided to recycle the water instead of spending the money in treating them and then release to the sea. The recycled water will be further purified and used for non-potable purpose. The first plant will open in Ghatkopar which will have a capacity of 150MLD. Ghatkopar was chosen because water can be reused for treating the solid waste at the Deonar dumping ground. “Moreover when you spend huge amount of water in treating and purifying the water, the cost of water goes up and you can’t throw it into the sea. There are many oil refineries in the Ghatkopar-Chembur belt, that have a huge requirement of water.”
The corporation already has a lagoon treatment plant in Ghatkopar. Here the BOD’s (Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand) will be reduced by 50mg per litre. The lagoon is where the sewage water is stored in ponds; this water is aerated with the help of aerators. Due to the aeration the BO is reduced. In the next one and half years, new sewer lines will be picked up. At least 200MLD of water is expected out of the Ghatkopar recycling plant by the beginning of 2012.
The corporation has received 23 bidders who have shown interest in BOT model. It is BMC’s land, where the company which is awarded the bid will design, install, commission and operate the plant for 15 or 25 years and after that it will be transferred to BMC. There are plans to set up sewage treatment plants at Colaba (5MLD), Worli (400MLD) and Bandra (400MLD).
