“Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such.”
-- European Union Water Framework Directive.
For Madurai, water is yet another component of its heritage paradigm. Like its culture and heritage, its water management also has a hoary past. One of the well-planned cities in the world, Madurai had a system that denied waste water the right to flow on the streets. Some researchers describe it as “one of the oldest, systematic waste water collection and disposal systems in the world.” Like its waterbodies, the waste water disposal system is now bursting at its seams. People have to share as much blame as the civic body for the present state of affairs.
The origin of Madurai’s waste water disposal system goes back to 1865 when the First Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal in England gave its approval to the practice of waste water irrigation. In its report, it said, “The right way to dispose of town sewage is to apply it continuously to the land and it is by such application that the pollution of rivers can be avoided.” Madurai, which became a municipality in 1867, adopted this principle and put in place a sewage treatment system that did not allow waste water to pollute the Vaigai.
“We should thank the water managers of this period for the Vaigai not turning into a huge sewage canal,” says S. Chandran, Associate Dean, Thiagarajar College of Engineering.
The first sewage treatment system was established to collect waste water from seven sub-stations to the Santhaipettai pumping station through gravity and pumped to Avaniapuram, 7 km away, for treatment. This ensured that sewage generated by a population of 1.52 lakh was pumped away from the city daily, thus protecting the Vaigai from pollution, Dr. Chandran points out. Even the canal system was such that overflow from the Vaigai was carried by a set of canals and excess sewage was let into canals like Chottathatti in the south.
The Santhaipettai pumping station is located on Kadar Khan Butler Street, which has an interesting, unverified anecdote associated with it. It was named after the butler of a British officer who lived beyond Santhaipettai, which was perhaps the boundary of Madurai. Footprints of the old sewage system can be seen on this street.
The civic body has been keeping pace with population explosion by devising new strategies to supply water and treat waste water. It is estimated that 80% of water supplied will be discharged as waste water. To protect our waterbodies and to tide over water crises it is essential to re-orient the popular outlook.
“We need to shift from the practice of ‘use-and-throw’ to a circular approach of ‘use-treat-reuse,’” says Dr. Chandran.
For him, waste water is a misnomer as used water is a resource. Used water can be reused in agriculture, aquaculture, industry and at home. He emphasises the need for a waste water policy for the State and the city. The Jharkhand waste water policy says that it will “ensure increased use of recycled water for other purposes, apart from drinking.”