Despite being announced almost two years ago, the ambitious project of the Delhi Government to generate 40 million gallons a day (MGD) of water for the city remains only on paper.
Conceived early last year, the project is yet to assume a concrete shape as officials said it would take more than three years to commission the project, tenders for which have not been floated till now. In 2012, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in collaboration with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) had decided to set up a water reclamation plant in its Coronation Pillar Sewage Treatment Plant (STP).
The high-tech facility meant to transform waste-water to potable levels was slated for completion in 2016, but the water utility has not ruled out the possibility of an extension of the deadline. Sources in the DJB informed that tenders for the same will be floated around April next year.
“The feasibility report is done. However, tender document to invite bids on a DBFOT (Design, Bid, Finance Operate and Transfer) basis is still under process. The completion of the plant will take almost three to four years from now as it is an ambitious project. Several aspects are still being dealt with,” said a senior DJB official, explaining the status of the project.
Once started, the plant will cater to the water needs of nearly 4 lakh Delhiites. The city's current water demand stands at 1,025 MGD, whereas the total sewage production amounts to 680 MGD. Meanwhile, the capacity of the 32 STPs under DJB is 589 MGD only.
Taking a cue from Singapore's water management model, the project with an estimated cost of a whopping 600 to 700 crore envisages introducing 'membrane-technology' in treating and recycling waste water.
With this, the treated water from the plant is expected to reduce Biochemical Oxygen Demand (B.O.D) and suspended solids to as low as only 3 ppm (parts per million) or even less, thereby making the water fit for drinking. However, rather than providing the treated water directly to public, it will be mixed with river water from the Palla floodplains, informed DJB officials.
"The raw water that our STPs receive has more than 250 ppm B.O.D and over 600 ppm of suspended solids in it. After treatment, these are reduced to 20 ppm B.O.D and 30 ppm suspended solids. This water reclamation plant will treat water to such an extent that it will be equivalent to drinking water. However, we will return the treated water to the river, about 20 kms upstream of Wazirabad for mixing with our raw water supply," added an official.
The Delhi Government has only one similar plant with a capacity of 1 MGD in the Capital, which is located in the Commonwealth Games Village.
The DJB had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the SCE in June last year under which the plant is to be operated under public-private partnership (PPP) model. Sources said the Delhi Government is investing close to Rs 350 crore on this project. The Singapore Government was to help the DJB to prepare an initial feasibility report and a detailed project report for this.