SMC starts cleaning of septic tanks with bio-culture method

Tribune News Service

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Shimla, December 28

Residents can breathe easy as the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) has started to treat over 3,000 private septic tanks and the community toilets with the help of bio-clean treatment to rid the city of the embarrassing stench emanating from them.

Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said the experts from Organica Biotech Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, had been engaged for treatment of the septic tanks and public toilets on a 90-day trial basis under the European Union-funded project. The company has proposed to use the bio-culture “bioclean BD” to treat the septic tanks, he added.

It’s a welcome news for residents living in areas where it’s difficult to operate honey-sucker machines and clean the overflowing stinking tanks.

“The solid faecal particles shall be degraded and converted into liquid which can be used for irrigation. The company has done it successfully in many cities in India”, Chauhan said.

In the absence of a sewage line, residents in the newly merged areas of Malyana, Chamiana, Tutu, Mehli, Panthaghatti, Dhalli and other areas have built private septic tanks. There are about 3,000 septic tanks that would be treated with bio-culture method to dispose of sewage, the Mayor said. The community toilet at Bharari, which is not connected to a sewage line, will also be treated with similar bio-culture method, he said.

Chauhan said the trial run has begun after the discussions among company expert Sagar Dumre, Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar and the SMC’s project coordinator. “It will take 90 days, once trial run is successful, it can be replicated throughout the city and in the entire state if required,” Panwar said.

The Mayor said he had attended a national summit on sustainable water and sanitation, 2016, in December in New Delhi. “As a result of this summit we have invited the expert under the EU-funded project that has been started n the city,” he said.