Last updated: 17 Aug 2024

Delhi Govt had set plans to increase the STP capacity to^[1]
-- 814 MGD by December 2023 => June 2024(missed again)^[2]
-- 922 MGD by December, 2024
-- up to 964.5 MGD by March 2025 (100% sewage treatment)

Okhla STP will be one of the biggest sewage treatment plant in Asia^[3]

2024-25 Budget: Water and sewerage, top priorities for the AAP govt got Rs 7,195 crore, up from Rs 6,342 crore in the last fiscal^[4]

Bureaucratic hurdles after BJP's Delhi Service control led to^[4:1]

-- Artificial fund crunch by bureaucracy led to MISSED December 2023 deadline^[5]
-- SC intervention forced to release funds Rs 760 cr & 1,927 crore to DJB in 1st week of April 2024^[6]
-- Lands allocated for STPs have been taken back by the DDA(under Central Govt)^[7]

The sewage generation ~792 MGD^[2:1] and treatment is around 566.9 MGD only as of Aug 2024^[7:1]
-- Rest flowing untreated into the Yamuna river

¶ List of STPs^[8]

3 STPs in Delhi are among the Top 5 largest STP in India^[9]
-- Okhla STP
-- Coronation Pillar STP
-- Kondli STP

Aug 2024: All functional STP of DJB in Delhi with Total STP capacity 667 MGD^[7:2]
-- only 84.9% capacity utilisation i.e. 566.9 MGD as actual treatment

¶ New Decentralised STPs^[1:1]

Construction of 40 New Decentralised STPs (DSTPs) with total capacity of 92 MGD

Locations

• 26 DSTPs with total capacity of 60 MGD at various locations
• 14 DSTPs with total capacity of 32 MGD in Najafgarh Drainage Zone

Timeline

• 29 DSTPs of total capacity of 57.57 MGD by December, 2024
• 11 DSTPs of total capacity of 34.43 MGD (12 months after allocation of land)

¶ Reuse of processed water

• 89 MGD of treated waste water supplied to Irrigation Department & Power Plants^[8:1]
• Delhi City of Lakes STP cleaned water feeds these lakes

¶ Major challenges ahead

• DJB has been facing a major financial crunch because bureaucrats of the finance department stopped the flow of funds to execute project^[4:2]
• Delhi Jal Board's estimates, the capital will be generating 925 MGD of sewage (80 per cent of 1,156 MGD water supply) by 2025 ^[5:1]
• Out of the 28 approved industrial areas, 17 are connected to 13 CETPs and there are 11 not connected with CETPs ^[10]
• Work to trap and process sewage is in progress in 255 out of 683 JJCs ^[10:1]

REFERENCES

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1. https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/chapter_8.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎

2. https://www.cnbctv18.com/india/delhi-govt-mulls-penalising-sewage-treatment-plant-engineers-for-pollution-in-yamuna-19444195.htm ↩︎ ↩︎

3. https://www.cnbctv18.com/india/for-a-clean-yamuna-delhis-biggest-sewage-treatment-plant-to-begin-trial-run-around-diwali-18137441.htm ↩︎

4. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-budget-2024-25-allocation-flow-boost-for-water-and-sewage/articleshow/108219739.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

5. https://www.deccanherald.com/india/delhi/delhi-missing-2023-deadline-to-treat-all-sewage-makes-2025-yamuna-cleaning-goal-challenging-2857323 ↩︎ ↩︎

6. https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2024/Apr/06/djb-row-sc-tells-finance-secy-to-release-funds-makes-agency-party-to-govts-plea ↩︎

7. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/waste/yamuna-continues-to-receive-sewage-as-8-stps-remain-dysfunctional-delhi-jal-board ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

8. https://delhiplanning.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/Planning/chapter_13.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎

9. https://www.iamrenew.com/sustainability/top-5-sewage-treatment-plants-stps-in-india-in-terms-of-capacity/ ↩︎

10. https://ddc.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/multimedia-assets/outcome_budget_2022-23.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎