Question : SEWAGE TREATMENT

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(a) whether according to the Planning Commission report, there is a wide gap between domestic sewage generation and installed Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity ;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether 65% sewage flows untreated into the rivers and other water bodies;

(d) if so, whether even after spending of Rs.2000 crore on the Ganga Action Plan, there is no tangible improvement in the quality of water;

(e) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefore;

(f) whether huge amount of funds are required to create additional STPs all over the country by 2020, under National River Conservation plan; (g) if so, whether the Government has assessed the need of funds required for STPs all over the country; and (h) If so, the details thereof and the steps taken to generate the funds required for the above purpose?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. ASHWANI KUMAR)

(a) to (c) : The Working Group on Urban and Industrial Water Supply and Sanitation and the Steering Committee on Water Resources and Sanitation constituted for formulation of the Twelfth Plan by the Planning Commission have noted that there is a huge gap between domestic sewage generation and installed capacity to treat sewage.

The Working Group has referred to the report of 2009 of the Central Pollution Control Board according to which against an estimated sewage generation of about 38254 million litres per day (mld) from Class I cities and Class II towns of the country, the available treatment capacity is 11787 mld. This is approximately 31%.

(d) and (e) : Ganga Action Plan (GAP) Phase-I was started in the year 1985 to improve the water quality of river Ganga and was completed in March, 2000. An expenditure of Rs.433 crore has been incurred against sanctioned cost of projects of Rs.462 crore.

Projects under GAP Phase – II were sanctioned in stages from 1993 onwards on receipt of proposals from respective State Governments. The total cost of the projects sanctioned under the ongoing GAP Phase-II is Rs.594.96 crore against which an expenditure of Rs.469.75 crore has been incurred till December, 2011. A total sewage treatment capacity of 1091 mld

(million litres per day) has been created for Ganga under GAP – I & II. As per MoEF the river water quality has shown improvement over the pre-GAP period.

(f) to (h) : The Steering Committee referred to in part (a) to (c) of the Question has estimated, based on current technologies, that about Rs.30,000 crore would be required to build capacity to treat the current balance of 70% waste water generated of 26467 mld. Estimation of expenditure and funds required and to be sourced is available with respect to the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) constituted by the Central Government in February, 2009 as an empowered authority for conservation of the river Ganga which aims to achieve complete elimination of untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluents flowing into Ganga by the year 2020. To address the sewage treatment gap of river Ganga by the year 2020 , for which information is available, Rs 15,000 crores has been estimated for capital works excluding O&M costs spread over 5 years. So far Projects amounting to Rs.2589 crore have been sanctioned under NGRBA. A project with world Bank assistance at an estimated cost of Rs.7000 crore has also been approved for implementation recently.