The Government was considering various funding options for taking up total clean-up of 19 lakes in and around the twin cities and for establishing 10 sewage treatment plants projected at Rs.1,600 crore based on a study undertaken by the Environment Protection, Training and Research Institute (EPTRI) here.
The Union Ministry for Environment and Forests and the Ministry for Urban Development had given in-principle approval for the works and the funding agency IL&FS had offered lending to an extent of Rs.700 crore while funds could be expected from the Green Climate Fund also, said EPTRI Director-General Kalyan Chakravarthy on Tuesday.
He was interacting with press persons during the two-day Indo-US Knowlegde workshop on ‘Water Collection, Treatment and Management Techniques’ hosted by the Institute with the participation of top officials of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) others.
The EPTRI was also in the process of preparing an environment status report for the Hyderabad city and Telangana besides being involved in the policy framework for water. The programme had experts from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago which manages sewage, storm water drainage and treatment plants at Cook County, Illinois, with a budget of over one billion dollars.
Mr. Chakravarthy said the workshop was a result of Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao’s visit to Chicago and his invite to waste water treatment experts to the capital for an exchange of expertise which could later on translate into technology knowhow etc. “Most of their water bodies were also polluted but they cleaned them up, hopefully we can learn from them to clean up our Musi and Hussainsagar,” he said.
Municipal Administration Secretary Navin Mittal said there was an ambitious plan to ensure that all the 1,200 million litres a day sewage was treated rather than 600 MLD as now and the Government was particular that it got running as soon as possible by identifying technologies and funds.
Greater Chicago Metropolitan officials Frank Avila and David St. Pierre said tough decisions were necessary to replicate their success story because most funding was through taxes or bonds. “People have to be challenged for sustainable living because water is not “free”.
Earlier, HMWSSB ED M. Satyanarayana gave a presentation on the current state and future plans.
