Effluent treatment plants to be mandatory for restaurants

NEW DELHI: Restaurants, banquet halls and eating joints in the city will soon have to install effluent treatment plants (ETPs) with the Delhi Government taking steps to implement the recent order of the Centre in this regard.

"Initially, we will start with an awareness programme regarding the effluent standards for the hotels notified by the Environment Ministry," said a senior official from Delhi environment department.

The official said a public notice will soon be issued to the owners of restaurants, eating joints such as 'dhabas', banquet halls and similar other units having minimum seating capacity of 36 for adhering to the norms.

Till now, there were no specific standards to keep a tab on the discharge of effluents being generated by such businesses which usually get mixed with city sewerage and are discharged into the rivers or contaminate groundwater.

These units will be checked on the basis of effluent parameters that have been defined by the environment ministry.

Also, with the water availability proving to be major problem, the hotel industry is being encouraged to set up on-site wastewater treatment facilities for recycling of water for gardening and other non-domestic use.

The ETPs would be brought under regulatory mechanism for effective monitoring and pollution control.

"Though some big hotels have installed treatment plants, small restaurants and banquets have no such facilities. But now they cannot escape from their responsibilities," the official added.