Above: Children trying to understand why their River Mutha is so polluted Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

Treating even 50% of its sewage is a dream that has been eluding Pune for decades. Mula, Mutha, Pavna and Indrayani Rivers crisscrossing Pune have routinely made headlines for pouring Pune’s sewage into Ujani Dam in the downstream, which supplies drinking water to several towns and villages, including the city of Solapur. All these rivers are classified as one of the 35 most polluted river stretches of India by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).[1]

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has recently agreed to extend a loan of 1000 Cr. under project ‘pollution abatement of River Mula-Mutha’.[2] Utilizing this funding PMC has proposed to build 11 new sewage treatment plants (STPs) with treatment capacity of 396 MLD. It is one of the star projects under Smart City programme and engineers of water supply department are gearing up for the construction of new STPs. As stated in the PMC newsletter of Feb 2016, the 11 new STPs will increase treatment capacity of Pune from current 477 MLD (Million Liters a Day) to 873 MLD which, it is claimed, will be sufficient to cater to sewage generation till year 2027.[3] Continue reading “Pune plans more STPs while existing plants under perform and there is no attempt to fix them” →