Following an order by the NGT, the Noida Authority has been asked to set up an STP in Sector 62 to treat waste discharged from Khoda. The Authority’s water department has now finalised a 16,000 sqm plot for the STP. While the project cost is being estimated, it is likely to be completed in about a month.
The move comes following NGT’s observation that Khoda discharges untreated wastewater into the drainage system of the PWD office in Delhi near the CRPF camp, which merges with the Kondli drain.
Noida’s water department has also roped in the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to inspect the 30 stormwater drains that discharge effluents into the Kondli drain, thus polluting the Yamuna river.
“We have made an estimated budget for this STP, which is going to be finalised by Thursday evening. Apart from this, NEERI will do a topographic survey of 30 drains falling into Kondli, which has already been initiated. Their report is expected in a month. In 2020, the NGT ordered the UP irrigation department and the Noida Authority to jointly carry out the treatment of the Kondli drain. Complying with the order, we made three wetlands in Sector 142 near Advent Tower, Sector 50, and near NSEZ, at a cost of Rs 21 crore,” said an official from the water department.
But, in March this year, the CPCB stated in their report that “Samples of Noida drains collected at different locations of the wetlands indicate that the concentration at the inlet and outlet of the constructed wetlands with respect to BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), COD(chemical oxygen demand), and TSS (toxic shock syndrome) is same, and no substantial improvement is observed.”
The legal battle to clean the Kondli drain was initiated by Noida-based environmentalist Abhisht Gupta in 2018.
Link: TOI IMAGE
