Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) installed in the twin cities, which treat 750 million litres a day as against 1,350 million litres of sewage generated, are not only inadequate to deal with the volume of sewage generated, but are not functioning to the fullest capacity owing to maintenance issues. This apart, they have turned into mosquito breeding grounds.
The sad state of the STPs came to the fore when a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by MLC and city president N. Ramchander Rao and others visited three of them located at Khairatabad, Pathigada, Khajaguda and the Mir Alam Tank in the last few days.
“Given the increasing prevalence of dengue, chickungunya and other viral fevers, we decided to visit the STPs where we noticed that they are ill-maintained and are not functioning to their installed capacities,” explained Mr. Rao.
At the Khairatabad STP, the team found that 90% of the drain water was being untreated and let directly into the tank bund and the remaining 10% was not being treated properly owing to non-functioning of equipment such as screening chambers and tanks, while aerators were only functioning partially.
Membrane filtrations have not been working for the last one-and-a-half years and chlorination is not being done. Not a single unit has been functioning at the Khajaguda STP for the last two years with sewage directly being let out into the tank untreated. Also, there are no permanent staff manning the facility. “We found pigs roaming around the facility and the unused tanks have turned into breeding grounds,” said the BJP leader.
Pattigadda was found to be functioning at 10% of its capacity with broken pumps and dysfunctional tank. Only the Mir Alam Tank was treating sewage, but at 30% efficiency.
“We want to bring these issues to the notice of the government. The STPs that are meant to protect citizens from diseases are turning into mosquito breeding grounds,” explained Mr. Rao. His party colleagues G. Vivekanand, Karuna Gopal and others were also present.
