The city’s new stand-alone septage treatment plant will come up on nearly two acres near the municipal solid waste treatment plant of the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram.
The government move to set up such plants forms part of the series of steps being initiated days after the Supreme Court pulled up the Chief Secretary for the State’s failure in establishing sewage treatment plants (STPs) in all districts.
The proposed facility here is among the three standalone units being planned by the government in the first phase of implementation. The remaining standalone septage treatment plants will come up at Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram. All districts will have similar plants in the next phase.
Stating that the proposed plant would occupy nearly two acres of the 60 acres near the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram, Dileep Kumar, executive director (in-charge) of the Kerala Suchitwa Mission, told The Hindu on Wednesday that the facility would have the capacity to treat up to 100 cubic metres of septage sludge daily. He said that a sewage treatment plant would come up at Mundamveli in the second phase.
In its report submitted before the apex court, the State had pointed out that it was public objection that stood as a major obstacle to setting up STPs. The Brahmapuram site was chosen for the standalone septage treatment plant after efforts to set up the facility at other areas failed to materialise. The Supreme Court had also asked the Kerala High Court to oversee setting up of sewage treatment plants in the State.
The standalone plants in Ernakulam, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram would be developed as models to instil confidence among the residents who had resisted such plants fearing pollution of water resources in their region.
STPs would also soon come up in Kollam, and Kozhikode. These would be co-treatment plants, where both sewage and septage would be treated. The government has also plans to carry out an awareness campaign on the advantages of having STPs soon.
