AP Taking Up ₹79 Crore Project To Treat Sewage Ahead Of Godavari Pushkaralu
Five sewage inlets entering Godavari River will be diverted to treatment plants. Treated water will be released downstream at Dowleswaram
Andhra Pradesh government is taking up a ₹79 crore project to treat domestic sewage and prevent its discharge into the Godavari River ahead of the Godavari Pushkaralu, whose main venue is Rajamahendravaram.
An estimated five crore devotees are expected to attend the Pushkaralu scheduled from June 26 to July 7, 2027 in the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been holding review meetings with senior officials to ensure fool-proof arrangements for the event. The CM does not want a repeat of the stampede, which led to the death of 29 devotees during the 2015 Pushkaralu.
Authorities have identified five points through which domestic sewage enters the Godavari River – Jalla Kaluva, Kantheru Drain, Nalla Channel, area near the Kanaka Durga Ghat, and a location near the Sai Baba temple at Dowleswaram.
The ₹79 crore project being taken up by the AP Pollution Control Board aims to stop discharge of sewage into the river through these inlets by diverting it to sewage treatment plants.
The existing sewage treatment plant (STP) has a capacity of 30 million litres per day (MLD). Two additional plants, with capacities of 50 MLD and 5.5 MLD, are being constructed at Hukumpeta. Together, the three plants will be able to treat 85.5 MLD of sewage every day. The new STPs are expected to be ready by January 2027.
An underground pipeline spanning 17 km will connect the five sewage inlets to the treatment plants at Hukumpeta. Another pipeline will carry the treated water downstream of Godavari and release it into the river near the Sai Baba Temple at Dowleswaram.
Following the merger of 10 gram panchayats with Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation (RMC), sewage from Bommuru, Satellite City, Vemavaram, and other areas will also be collected and taken to the Hukumpeta plants through underground pipelines using reverse pumping. After treatment, the treated water will be released downstream near Dowleswaram.
The project is aimed at improving the quality of water at major bathing ghats from Kotilingala to Dowleswaram during the Pushkaralu.
Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation executive engineer Sk. Madarsha Ali said, “The proposed project will help arrest the discharge of domestic sewage into Godavari River from the five inlets. Only treated water will be released downstream of the river. Pollution of river water with domestic sewage will thus be curbed.”
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Key details:
- The merger of 10 gram panchayats into the RMC has increased the municipal corporation's population from 4.11 lakh to nearly 5.6 lakh.
- The Central Pollution Control Board's permissible biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) limit for bathing in river water is 3 mg/litre or less.
- The permissible BOD limit for treated water is up to 10 mg/litre.
- Untreated sewage can have BOD levels of 90 mg/litre to 100 mg/litre.
- AP Pollution Control Board is taking up the project, which includes a 17-km underground pipeline that will take the sewage to treatment plants before discharging the treated water downstream near Dowleswaram.
