The Delhi Government is toiling day and night to clean the Yamuna River and in the same order Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the mega Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) at Coronation Pillar.
The WWTP was built and inaugurated recently to treat a gigantic 31.80 crore litres (70 MGD) of waste water on a daily basis. The Coronation Wastewater Treatment Plant is a crucial step that will ultimately lead to the cleaning of Yamuna as it looks to capture the sewage being generated in a very wide area in North Delhi. The government has built the mega treatment plant to cater to the requirements of sewage treatment for the ‘coronation pillar drainage zone.’
The CM stated, “The Coronation Wastewater Treatment plant will radically aid in cleaning the Yamuna and quenching the thirst of lacs of Delhiites. Treated water will come from Coronation WWTP to an advanced treatment plant and then would be sent to WTPs via the Yamuna through Palla; this will help 50-60 MGDs of water be used for drinking. Coronation Plant is possibly the largest of its kind in India; will treat 70 MGD water each day. We have promised the people of Delhi to completely clean Yamuna by 2025.
The Central Government has given us its approval to use this water as potable water; the Upper Yamuna River Board has thoroughly assessed our parameters. This plant at the Coronation Pillar is Delhi’s first WWTP; we are developing an even bigger WWTP with 120 MGD capacity at Okhla.” Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman Saurabh Bhardwaj and senior officials of the concerned departments accompanied the CM on his visit.
Kejriwal carried out an inspection of the Coronation Pillar Sewage Treatment Plant today. The officers briefed the CM about the STP project and gave him an overview referring to a project model. The WWTP will treat the wastewater that is generated from the areas of Shakti Nagar, Kamla Nagar, Roop Nagar, Delhi University Campus, Nehru Vihar and treated water will be released in the river. This will bring into motion a virtuous cycle that will lead to restoration of ecological balance in the river. The load of all forms of pollution will decrease, and both flora and fauna will return to the river system in its stretch in Delhi.
Kejriwal said, “We carried out a thorough inspection of the Coronation Sewage Treatment Plant today. Our aim is to make Yamuna clean and pristine before 2025, as promised to the people of Delhi. Hence, one of our objectives is to properly treat the sewage water that flows into the river so that it can no longer pollute our sacred Yamuna. The Coronation Plant is in itself the biggest STP in India, with a capacity of 70 MGD (million gallons per day). It is one of the most modern plants in the country, with almost every aspect of the process being automated. A SCADA system has been installed for smooth functioning of this STP, under which machineries across the plant can be operated remotely. The 70 MGD water which is exiting the plant after treatment has a purity of 10:10 BOD:TSS.”
He continued, “On the other side of the Jahangirpuri drain, we will further set up another plant where we will increase the purity of 4:5, after which the 70 MGD water will be directed towards Palla. The water will travel from Palla through Yamuna and come to our STP here, and hence around 50-60 MGD of extra water can be used for drinking throughout Delhi. This technique is used in Singapore, where it’s called ‘New Water’. Based on this model, we have implemented a similar mechanism in Delhi through which we are reaping the benefits at the same time – one, the cleaning of the Yamuna, and two, an increase in the supply of drinking water once this project is complete. I would therefore like to congratulate the entire Delhi Jal Board team, its officers, and all workers on developing such a phenomenal Sewage Treatment Plan.”
The CM also tweeted, “We are committed to clean the Yamuna. Inspected the Coronation Plant today. This is the country’s largest plant at 70 MGD. It is fully automatic. It is a wonderful plant.”
During the visit, the officers informed the CM that the wastewater generated in a large number of unauthorised colonies or groups of colonies is also being arrested and treated by Coronation Pillar WWTP. These areas include Saroop Nagar, Bhalswa, Sant Nagar and Wazirabad Group of colonies where lakhs of people are set to benefit. The project will help in reducing the groundwater pollution and also lead to decline in the salinisation levels of the underground aquifers. The treated water could be transported for non-drinking purposes like irrigation, horticulture, road washing, recharging of lakes and so on.
The CM held that quality infrastructure is an inalienable right of every resident of Delhi and Coronation Pillar will serve the purpose of ecological restoration of the city. The reduction in wastewater will also reduce foul smell/odour problems in the vicinity of the area. The sewage which used to directly fall into the Supplementary drain will be trapped and treated at the Coronation Pillar WWTP. The sewage will be intercepted by interceptor sewer that will be laid along the Supplementary drain and the sewage water will be moved to Coronation WWTP through the pumping station available in Burari. This will decrease the wastewater load of Supplementary drain, Najafgarh Drain and also the Yamuna.
Salient features of the Coronation Wastewater Treatment Plant:
The Coronation WWTP facility is adorned with state-of-the-art technology that would heighten the wastewater treatment capacity of and curb the pollution in Delhi on a large scale. Advanced technologies employed in the WWTP will help maintain its efficiency.
1) The Coronation WWTP plant is constructed with the latest technology with effluent parameters of biochemical oxygen demand and TSS < 10 mg/L that includes nitrogen and phosphorus removal, including disinfection. This efficiency or capacity of the Coronation WWTP is in line with the latest parameters of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). There is also the provision of power generation which makes the colossal facility significantly self-sustainable in nature without having to depend on outside electricity sources.
2) The plant will be fully automated based on the SCADA system. There will be online stage-wise monitoring of all the effluent parameters. SCADA refers to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, which is a system of software and hardware elements that allows industries to monitor, gather, and process real-time data. This is crucial to maintaining efficiency, and communicating system issues to help mitigate downtime and make the system self-reliable.
3) Provision of mechanical dewatering of sludge, thereby eliminating the requirement of sludge drying beds. Therefore, the new plant is more efficient with reduced recurring costs and footprints.
4) Provision of membrane-type gas holders to hold the produced material efficiently. These membrane gas holders are the most flexible, economical, as well as reliable and efficient biogas storage solutions. The membrane gas holder is important for the process of anaerobic digestion as it ensures a regular supply of biogas availability for the rest of the plant to operate consistently and efficiently