Common effluent treatment plant to stop Cuncolim water pollution

SHOMA PATNAIK | NT
PANAJI
In what looks like slight progress on cleaning up water, which has been contaminated around the Cuncolim industrial estate, the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has decided to go in for a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) for the industrial estate.
The GIDC recently finalised an agency that will prepare a detailed project report (DPR) prior to the construction of the CETP.
Mumbai-based Aditya Environmental Services has been appointed as the agency to prepare the DPR with a time-frame of three months for completing the report. The consultancy firm will be assessing the effluent load from various units in the industrial estate, water consumption pattern of units, type of effluents generated among other parameters.
Speaking to this daily, director of Aditya Environmental Services Rajeev Aundhe said that the work on preparing the DPR has already begun by collecting data on units from the Goa State Pollution Control Board. Based on the inputs gathered, the company will suggest the design for the CETP.
The CETP, tentative cost of which is estimated at Rs 30 crore, will be partly funded through assistance from the central government. About 25 per cent of the cost will be contributed by stakeholder industries from the Cuncolim industrial estate, 50 per cent by the state and 25 per cent from central subsidy.
President of Cuncolim Industries Owners Association Abhay Keni said that a common effluent treatment plant is urgently needed at the estate as it has several polluting units. “The fishmeal and fish processing units in the estate discharge around 10 lakh litres of effluents daily,” he said.
Notorious for pollution, the Cuncolim industrial estate units have contaminated water bodies, groundwater and also led to air pollution. Some units presently have effluent treatment plants but many units have effluent treatment plants not functioning properly. A CETP will collect effluents from all units and treat them safely.