The city’s surrounding municipalities are now linked to better waste management network with 12 of them set to treat their waste in Sewerage Treatment Plants. Twelve municipalities did not have proper sewerage management mechanisms earlier.
Unlike the core city of Hyderabad which has sewerage networks that are linked to treatment plants, the former municipalities were mostly dependent on septic tanks for disposal of faecal sludge.
In localities where commercial establishments including star hotels have come up, waste from septic tanks was being disposed of by unlicensed private operators.
As per the plan laid out by Hyderabad Water Supplies and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) and Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad (ASCI) the tankers carrying waste from erstwhile municipalities will no longer be allowed to dispose of the faecal sludge in water bodies or open plots. Stringent checks to prevent this practice will be in place, senior officers said.
The sludge from commercial and residential establishments will have to be transported to the nearest STP for treatment. There are 18 such treatment plants in Hyderabad.
Reducing pollution
According to officials who have been working on effective treatment of waste, the new policy will help reduce chances of water and soil pollution in the area. “Now that the municipalities are linked strictly to the Sewerage Treatment Plants, the sludge which has been accumulating in septic tanks of commercial and residential complexes are less of a threat to the environment. This project also supports Musi revitalisation project as lack of disposal mechanisms had earlier resulted in disposal of sludge into the river. Contractors have been dumping waste into the river for decades,” a water board official said.
Hyderabad’s water board has also been expanding the sewerage network to benefit residents of all parts of the city. In 2018, the board laid sewers in several areas within GHMC limits to better expand the waste disposal network. In the next phase of sewerage network expansion, the board plans to link the existing sewer lines to the newly laid ones to better manage waste, officials said.
