To promote the use of wastewater and generate revenue out of it, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has initiated the process for setting up a tertiary treatment plant (TTP) on public private partnership (PPP) basis and then sell the recycled water.
At its meeting on Wednesday, the RMC standing committee green-flagged a proposal to engage a consultant for a proposed TTP of 90 million litres per day (MLD) capacity. The committee approved the proposal of hiring Bluestream Infrastructure Development Consultant Private Limited, a Pune-based firm.
The consultant will prepare a pre-feasibility report, a detailed project report with cost estimates, technical and commercial specifications and bid documents for floating tenders and help identify the private player in the project, the proposal said.
Municipal Commissioner Anand Patel said the city needs to reuse its wastewater. “Sources of water in Rajkot are limited and therefore, reusing wastewater is the way forward. At the same time, seven existing STPs (Sewage Treatment Plants) are discharging water into the Aji-II dam after primary treatment and the irrigation department is supplying it to farmers for irrigation. We want to reuse this water by giving it tertiary treatment and create a revenue stream for the RMC,” Patel stated.
The RMC has two STPs in Madhapar, having cumulative capacity of 124.5 MLD, two in Raiyadhar (107 MLD), two in Kothariya (30 MLD) and one in Gavaridad village of 70 MLD capacity.
The RMC is in the process of testing and commissioning its 8 MLD TTP in Raiya to cater to Raiya Smart City. This TTP will discharge water into the Atal Sarovar to maintain the water level in the reservoir as well as making water available for gardening purposes, Patel said.
“At present, we are selling some wastewater treated by STPs to farmers at token rates. But we want that industries and other sectors use wastewater treated by the proposed TTP. Water treated by TTP will be odourless and fit for many uses,” he added.
Kishor Dethariya, city engineer of RMC’s drainage (projects) department, said that the civic body’s sewage collection network collects an average of 260 LMD and almost all of it is discharged into the Aji-II dam after being treated by the seven STPs.
“Our Gavaridad and Madhapar STPs are supplying water to farmers to irrigate around 40 hectares of land. The token amount that farmers pay generates around Rs 3.5 lakh revenue for RMC annually. Two new STPs are being set up in Ghanteshwar (75 MLD) and Raiyadhar (23 MLD),” he added.
Dethariya said that Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad have already commercialised wastewater treated by TTPs. “As part of the proposed project, RMC will provide land for TTP and supply wastewater treated by our STPs. The private agency will have to make the capital investment as well as take the responsibility of operating and maintaining the TTP,” he added.
Source: The Indian Express
Image courtesy: RMC
