UT to fill Sukhna with treated sewage

Ramkrishan Upadhyay 

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, November 26 

In an attempt to find a permanent solution to depleting water level at Sukhna Lake, the Chandigarh Administration is planning to set up a 2-MGD (million gallons per day) sewage treatment plant. Sources said treated water would fill the lake throughout the year and would help to raise the water level which became a major concern for the administration in the summer every year.  

The sources said the Engineering Department of the administration had prepared a project for installing the sewage plant at Kishangarh. The department will soon be giving a presentation before the Adviser to Administrator for approval. Besides, another sewage treatment plant of 2-MGD capacity is being planned at Maloya. 

The sources said both plants would cost more than Rs 50 crore and would be installed under the public private partnership (PPP)  mode. 

Over the years, the level of the lake, created in 1958 by Le Corbusier, has been declining due to deficient monsoon and heavy silting.  The Punjab and Haryana High Court is constantly monitoring the lake situation and has passed many orders to restore its glory.

Every summer, depleting water level of the Sukhna poses a challenge to the authorities The water level in June was recorded below 1,152 feet which later increased due to better monsoon.

The sources said around 2 MGD of sewage generated by Kishangarh was daily discharged into a choe which can be fully utilised by the proposed plant. The idea for using treated water came after Special Secretary (Engineering) Mukesh Anand and UT Director (Environment) Santosh Kumar recently visited Delhi to see such treatment plants. An officer of the Environment Department said there couldn't be much variation in the quality of water in the lake and quality of treated water.