Sewage flow
Treating drinking water is just a drop. Strict environmental rules means that the sewage of entire cities has to be cleaned. Companies are just waiting to plunge in and treat. Till about the end of 2000, Delhi's sewage treatment plants followed the effluent standard of 20 milligram per litre (mg/l) for biological oxygen demand (BOD) and 30 mg/l for total suspended solids (TSS). But Yamuna is getting dirtier because of the 4,088 million litre of wastewater it receives daily. Keeping this in mind, the CPCB on January 19, 2001 asked the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to follow new norms of 10 mg/l BOD, 15 mg/l TSS and 1,000 most probable number (MPN) per 10 millilitre of total coliform at its new plants. Soon after CPCB gave this order, a debate started over who can deliver these new standards.
Who can clean the muck?
The DJB claims only MNCs have the technology to achieve these stringent standards. About a year back, the DJB floated a tender for its 45 million gallons per day (mgd) Kondli sewage treatment plant. Few companies applied and of them many were rejected. The DJB is yet to decide whom to give the contract. According to a senior DJB officer, three MNCs
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