Effluent Treatment Process
Effluent Treatment Process
Effluent Treatment Process
some trouble. But even if the treated water looks clear and odour-free, it may still not
meet specifications; and the owner may not be even aware that his STP has a
problem. And the truth is, there are many such defective STPs running in Bengaluru,
about which the owners may not be aware.
This article explains why we have so many faulty STPs, and what needs to be done to
change this.
Many of us may think that running STPs is a specialized job; so why should we attempt
to run an STP in our apartment complex in the first place? Why can’t the Bengaluru
Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) operate STPs as a public service?
Well, there is a sound reason for that: using a local STP allows us to recycle nearly half
of our total daily water usage. This brings down our freshwater demand by 50%. Then
BWSSB will be able to distribute the same quantity of Kaveri water to double the
population!
Since 2005, the number of privately-owned STPs has been growing fast in the city. But
in an unregulated market, a lot of substandard STPs were sold. These STPs have
design and fabrication flaws, and cannot treat sewage even if they are run by the best
operators. Even if the STPs are good, most of the operators in the market are
unqualified, which again means they cannot treat the sewage properly.
Hence the solution is to regulate the design, fabrication, operation and maintenance of
STPs. Section 17 of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 lays down
several measures to regulate these aspects. These responsibilities are assigned to
KSPCB. These responsibilities include inspection and approval of new STPs, training of
operators, spreading awareness among the public, etc.
Unfortunately, the Water Act remains mostly unimplemented even today. As a result,
these areas have remained weak, and need reforms.
First, we will see what reforms are needed in the STP-approval process, and then,
reforms needed in other areas.
The developer can operationalise the STP only if they have the CFO.
Subsequently, throughout the life of the STP, KSPCB conducts annual inspections to
check for ageing-related problems and tampering. When the STP passes each
inspection, KSPCB extends the CFO by another year.
This process may seem perfect, but isn’t. At present, the CFE-CFO procedure is not
formally documented. KSPCB does not use data collection forms to ensure that the
process is executed consistently for all STPs. Most importantly, the developer simply
abandons the STP, and quietly slips it over to the RWA without its explicit acceptance.
Due to such factors, multiple defects remain in the STP, and apartment owners end up
spending their hard-earned money to rectify these.
The following diagram shows the current practices for STP construction and approval
on a timeline. (Click to see full-size image):
And the diagram below shows the timeline for the desired/ideal workflow.
Note:
In all, the revised workflow has eight additional steps; and one step (CFO) is split into
two separate steps (PCFO+FCFO).
The following table explains each event shown on the timeline. The table highlights the
additional steps to be taken as per the desired/ideal workflow in pale green; and the
step to be removed is highlighted in pink. The additional steps are also mentioned
in bold letters.
EVENT BY REMARKS
Declare the number of
apartments and
quantity of sewage
Select an STP type
(Several STP types are
available, but some
types are not
approved)
Finish the engineering
calculations and
Design STP Developer drawings
The construction is
completed (including
common areas)3
The construction
complies with the
Apply for OC Developer sanctioned plans
If the CFE-CFO process is revamped, the RWA will get defect-free STPs. But is that
enough?
For a moment, compare an STP with your car. How do you keep your car in the best
condition? You begin by buying the best-possible car, and then take care of three
human factors:
1. Even the best car can be ruined by a reckless driver. So you must have a careful
driver for your car.
2. As the owner, you must be fairly conversant with its well-being. At the first sight
of trouble, you must take it to service.
3. You must use a qualified service. Cutting corners means ruining the car.
Exactly the same factors work for STPs. We need STPs that are designed and
fabricated well. In addition, we need good operators, knowledgeable owners and good
maintenance service. But in the case of STPs, none of these factors are guaranteed
currently!
3. The STP is part of common areas. Other examples of common areas are clubhouse,
swimming pool, water treatment plant, fire hydrant system etc.
4. Ideally, the raw sewage has to be transported to the designated BWSSB STP, but
that is too expensive. So the developer simply dumps the raw sewage in a UGD line or
even SWD, thus polluting it.
5. The current workflow does not have this step at all – once the STP gets CFO, it’s in
the clear, and no one actively searches for operational faults.