Waste water Management in the city of Varanasi

Abstract

Present research investigation was performed in the city of Varanasi situated in newlinethe Gangetic plain of India. With reference to the National River Ganga, this city is newlinereported to be one of the highly polluted cities in India. To clean this holy river, a newlinemajor effort was initiated by the Government of India in the form of Ganga Action newlinePlan way back in the year 1986. Under this plan, three sewage treatment plants (STPs) newlineviz. Dinapur STP (1986), Bhagwanpur STP (1988) and Diesel Locomotive Works newlineSTP (1989) were commissioned with combined treatment capacity of 101.8 million newlinelitres per day (MLD) for the treatment of wastewater. These STPs are specifically newlinedesigned to treat wastewater emanating from domestic sector and provide only newlineprimary and secondary treatment to wastewater functioning on activated sludge newlineprocess technology. There is no provision for the advance treatment of wastewater. newlineBut, at Varanasi more than seven thousand cottage, small and medium scale industries newlineare located in and around the city. Majority of these industries are devoid of effluent newlinetreatment facility and ultimately discharge their effluents laden with toxic metals newlinedirectly into the city sewage, which eventually drains into the river Ganga that serves newlinethe population of northern India. This inappropriate disposal of untreated or partially newlinetreated wastewater ultimately aggravates the problems associated with the pollution of newlineriver Ganga. newline