The Hindu : New Delhi News : NGOs willing to run Sonia Vihar plant

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 06, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

NGOs willing to run Sonia Vihar plant

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 5. Two non-government organisations -- Water Workers' Alliance and Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology -- have brought forward a "viable proposal" to run the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant by recycling waste water discharged from the six water treatment plants operational in Delhi and by recharging the natural reservoirs in the Yamuna basin during the forthcoming monsoon season.

Stating that the two organisations would work on the project along with the Delhi Jal Board employees only when the contract of the French multinational in charge of the plant was revoked, the top functionaries of the two NGOs along with renowned environment activist, Vandana Shiva, said the entire Rs.800 crores spent on the Sonia Vihar plant would go down the drain as there was no hope of getting raw water for the plant from either Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh or Haryana.

They alleged that the Sonia Vihar plant was to be run according to the World Bank's agenda to privatise water in the Capital as of the 140 MGD to be treated at the new plant, 90 MGD was meant for the posh South Delhi colonies and the State Government showed no commitment towards other water-starved localities or unauthorised colonies and slums.

According to Sanjay Sharma of the Alliance, the Delhi Government and the DJB has no choice but to adopt their model to save the plant. "We have already prepared a feasibility report and even worked out other technical details and scientific studies. The Government would not have to spend extra money and in turn earn over Rs.600 crores annually as revenue from sale of water," he claimed.

"The Water Workers' Alliance worked on the alternatives and possibilities of running the plant through good water resource management and reached the conclusion that through public-public partnership, the plant can easily be operated. The raw water can be made available from waste back-wash water from DJB's existing six treatment plants and collecting surface runoff water and waste flood."

"This way, 195 MGD water would be available which can be used for running the Sonia Vihar plant as well as meet the requirements of treatment plants at Nangloi and Bawana. The immediate availability from the three treatment plants would be around 43 MGD that can be enhanced to its optimum level by August 2006," Mr. Sharma explained.

The proposal states that a total of 73 MGD of water gets wasted during treatment at various plants and is discharged into the Yamuna -- at Wazirabad plant (15 MGD wastage), Chandrawal (15 MGD), Bhagirathi (13 MGD), Haiderpur (24 MGD), Nangloi (3 MGD) and Okhla (3 MGD). This water would be taken to Sonia Vihar and re-treated before supplying it. Transporting water to the plant would not be a problem as the river Yamuna would become a channel, saving the Government any extra expenditure on laying pipelines or setting up infrastructure, it added.

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