Only 37% sewage treatment capacity in urban areas: Government

NEW DELHI: Sewage treatment capacity in urban areas is only 37 per cent of the total amount generated, the government said today.

"As per the report of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) published in March 2015, sewage generation from urban areas is estimated at around 62,000 million litres per day (MLD) whereas the total treatment capacity available is only 23,277 MLD (37 per cent of the sewage generation)," Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said proper treatment and disposal of sewage generated in towns is the responsibility of the state governments concerned and local bodies so that the untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers and other water bodies, thereby polluting them.

Replying to another question, Javadekar said discharge of untreated domestic sewage is a major source of coliform contamination in rivers as well as ground water.

"CPCB in association with state pollution control board is assessing river water and ground water quality at 1,275 locations and 807 locations respectively in the country.

"Total and faecal coliforms, which indicate presence of pathogens in water, are conforming to the desired levels in 47 per cent observation and 62 per cent observation respectively in river water samples, whereas, the coliform bacteria limit in ground water samples is exceeding at 667 out of the 807 locations," the minister said.