Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) is preparing the ground for a comprehensive Under Ground Drainage (UGD) system in the city to effectively treat waste water and explore recycling of water for the next 100 years. Lack of a proper UGD system has been placing a lot of strain on the resources of the staff crunched GMC.
Municipal Commissioner Cherukuri Sreedhar told The Hindu on Wednesday that a comprehensive UGD project with an estimated cost of Rs.1,600 crore was being drafted and the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is expected to be ready soon.
The existing UGD sewerage system was set up in 1959 and was covering just 22 per cent of the municipal area. The installed capacity of the Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) at Suddapalli Donka is 34 million litres per day (MLD).
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The GMC had earlier mulled a multiple sewage treatment project in 2008 during the tenure of then Municipal Commissioner Siddharth Jain who made a lot of effort to ground the project.
The GMC had then tied up with Tiruchnalapalli Municipality to implement the project on a pilot basis.
The GMC had also proposed comprehensive overhauling of the existing defunct sewerage treatment system, sanitation and underground drainage system at a cost of Rs.406 crore, on the basis of a report by the ENV Developmental Assistance, a Lucknow-based consultant.
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The report suggested that the city should be divided into three sewerage zones, one in the area north of the railway station, one in north east area and the area south of Railway Line and mooted make use of the existing UGD system to collect and convey storm water. A separate sewerage system would deal with the domestic waste. The total length of the proposed sewers is at 7.83 metres.
Increasing the capacity of out fall drains, diverting the excess rainwater to the natural drains were some of the other recommendations.