New standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants notified to check water pollution

NEW DELHI: The Centre has notified the revised standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants ( CETPs) operating at various industrial clusters in the country with an aim to minimise water pollution.

The Environment Ministry notified the standards which were finalised after extensive consultations with industries and other stakeholders and detailed deliberations with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

"The Environment Ministry has notified the revised standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) operating at various industrial clusters in the country. The primary aim of the revised standards is to minimise water pollution," an official statement said today, adding that the revised standards were notified on January 1.

The revised standards will help in significantly improving the performance of CETPs through implementation of design inlet quality, addressing the problems of the coastal pollution due to industrial discharges.

It will also help in improving the CETPs performance by keeping a close watch on the impact of discharge of industrial effluent on soil and groundwater quality.

Under the revised standards, a provision of soil and groundwater quality monitoring twice a year (pre- and post-monsoon) has been introduced.

This has been introduced to study the impact of disposal of treated effluent on land, in case of mode of disposal as 'on land for irrigation' and the monitoring will be carried out by the respective CETP management.

"The mode of 'Discharge into sea' (marine outfalls) providing very high dilution will qualify for a relaxed maximum permissible concentration of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD).

"The maximum permissible concentration of Fixed Dissolved Solids (FDS) by constituent units to CETP has been specified in terms of maximum allowable contribution value," the statement added.