Yamuna clean-up: Interceptor project launched (Times of India 23 January 2012)

New Delhi: The ambitious interceptor sewage project that is being pitched as the ultimate solution to the Yamuna’s filth was finally inaugurated on Thursday. Work is expected to begin on Friday but the system, that entails construction of parallel channels along the three main drains in the city – Najafgarh, Shahdara and Supplementary, will finish only around the middle of 2014.
The interceptors, which will eventually function as independent trunk sewers, will trap sewage that flows into the three main drains and carry it to the nearest sewage treatment plant (STP). The treated sewage will then be permitted to drain directly into the Yamuna. Officials say that the biological oxygen demand of the river, that is an extremely unhealthy 41 mg per litre, will reduce to 12 mg/litre.
The project management consultant is Engineers India Limited and the work has been awarded to three difference agencies. “The length of the interceptor system is 59 km and the depth is 20-60 feet. The diametre will vary from 600mm to 2,400mm. The cost of the project is Rs 1,978 crores.
“Sewage from 1,600 unauthorised colonies and other unsewered areas including rural villages and JJ clusters will be trapped by the interceptors. An additional 70 million gallons per day of sewage treatment capacity will be built for the project but our aim is to utilize the existing treatment capacity,” said a DJB official.
The project had earlier met with deep skepticism from several agencies. The allegations against it were that it was nother money guzzling project from DJB that would neither be of a required capacity nor would it be able to treat water to bathing quality as mandated by the court. The project is also massively delayed. At the last deadline, officials had claimed that two thirds of the project would be completed before the Commonwealth Games. However, a year later work is just about starting.
Other work that will be carried out simultaneously to clean the river includes augmentation of the existing capacity of Dr Sen Nursing Home and Delhi Gate STP drains from 2.2 MGD to 15 MGD. About 13 drains emptying into the Bela Road and Ring Road trunk sewers will also be intercepted. “We are expecting the river and the major drains to be pollution free in another three years. The effluent generated will be treated to a level where it can be utilized for non-potable purposes in industry and horticulture,” said an official.