Half of sewage from cities, towns and villages goes into the state’s rivers untreated and around 15% of the country’s most polluted river stretches are in the state, environment minister Pankaja Munde has said. She told the legislative council on Monday that the state will think of creating a River Reserve Zone (RRZ). Out of 351 polluted river stretches in the country, 55 are in Maharashtra, a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report revealed recently.
“Out of 9,190 million litres per day sewage generated by the state’s civic bodies, 4,846 million litres is treated at 155 domestic sewage treatment plants, but the remaining, 4,344 million litres of untreated sewage, is flown into the rivers,” Munde said while replying to a calling attention motion raised by legislators. She said the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had asked the state to impose a fine of Rs 5 lakh per nullah that pollutes a river, besides asking for a massive fund allocation to achieve 100% treatment of sewage. She announced a task force to tackle pollution in rivers (see inset box).
To a query by leader of opposition Ambadas Danve on whether the state was thinking of creating RRZs on the lines of CRZs for coastal towns, given the high levels of pollution, Munde said her administration would consider it. She informed the upper house of the state legislature that 79 STPs are proposed to be built to treat 4,202 million litres of sewage per day and another 64 with to treat 2,024 million litres per day.
According to the CPCB, Mithi river is severely polluted and serves as an open sewage channel. Also, moderately polluted rivers such as Bhatsa, Kalu, Tansa, Surya, and Vaitarna have dams that supply drinking water to the city. Other polluted rivers in and around the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, as identified by the CPCB, include Ulhas, Savitri, Kundalika, Patalganga and Vashishthi (see graphic).