Pune News: PMC to install STP to keep track of effluent flow into Katraj Lake

Due to the ongoing application for permission, the local authority plans to construct the 2 MLD STP mostly at the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park and Wildlife Research Centre lake and this work is expected to be finished by June.

To address the discharge of untreated wastewater into Katraj Lake, namely in Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, a 2 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) will be operational in June. To stop more sewage from entering the lake, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has also constructed a 1,100-meter-long and 900-meter-diameter sewer system. The PMC took these measures following the report it provided on May 22 of this year to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

The National Green Tribunal’s principal bench took cognisance of the issue on March 22, ordering MPCB, PMC, CPCB, and the district collector to respond. The matter was transferred to the western bench, which passed an order on May 28, stating that MPCB conducted a field visit on May 16.

The PMC provided gabion walls for two drains from Santoshnagar and Peshwe Lake to Katraj Lake, preventing water hyacinth growth. The two stormwater lines near the lake were dry, and water samples collected from the lake had a slightly brownish colour, no smell, and pH-6-7, as per MPCB’s findings, read the order citing MPCB’s findings.

Deepak Sonawane, Sub-Engineer, PMC exclusively told Pune Pulse,

“8.5 Cr has been allotted to this project and 90% of the installment work is done. The remaining process is supposed to end by June end which will be followed by a trial run. The dirty water which will be trapped in the filter henceforth, will get treated and then flow back into the lake or will be used in Katraj Zoo. It’s an environment-friendly project as we will be using ‘Tiger Bio-filters’, it being noise-friendly.”