Waste Water Management in Guwahati

The Liquid Waste Management Rules, 2024, notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), shall come into force from October 1, 2025. These rules will apply to all urban and rural bodies, public authorities, and entities responsible for the generation and management of wastewater, sludge from wastewater treatment facilities, and faecal sludge, including all entities within their jurisdictions. The notification is a reminder for the authorities in Guwahati city to expedite all projects of liquid wastewater and faecal sludge management for compliance with these rules. Liquid, solid, and biomedical waste management is critical to the conservation of wetlands and rivers by keeping those free from liquid and solid waste. Currently the city does not have any Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) due to which untreated wastewater finds its way into the waterbodies, which has posed a grave pollution threat to the wetlands, the Brahmaputra River, and its tributary, the Bharalu. Wastewater carried by over 50 drains in the city, which outfall into the Bharalu River, has already reduced it to a drainage channel with no presence of any aquatic life. Apart from Bharalu, some of the large drains of the city also directly discharge wastewater into the Brahmaputra, polluting its water in some stretches along the bank line. Bulk users of water that come under the purview of the rules include buildings occupied by the Central government departments or undertakings, state government departments or undertakings, local bodies, public sector undertakings, or private companies; hospitals; nursing homes; schools; colleges; universities; other educational institutions; hostels; hotels; markets; places of worship; stadia and sports complexes; or any other private or public commercial or institutional establishments or residential societies having an average water use exceeding 5,000 litres per day. Under these rules, every wastewater generator shall dispose of wastewater, other than from industries, in drainage systems provided by the local body and must not dispose of wastewater on open land or in a water body in a manner to adversely affect environmental quality and will be required to pay such user fee as notified. Every bulk user of water shall have to register on the centralized online portal and shall have Extended User Responsibility (EUR) obligation for wastewater generated based on water consumed to ensure treatment of wastewater and reuse treated wastewater for designated uses. New facilities to be coming up after October 1, 2025, shall set up and operate on-site decentralized wastewater treatment facilities of requisite capacity. In case the bulk user is not able to set up an on-site decentralized wastewater treatment facility of requisite capacity for such facilities, it shall obtain an exemption for the corresponding quantity of wastewater from the local body and purchase EUR certificates from registered wastewater treatment facilities for meeting EUR obligations. They will also be required to file annual returns by 30th June of every year in respect of on-site decentralized wastewater treatment facilities to the State Pollution Control Board for the quantity of fresh water consumed, wastewater generated, wastewater treated, and reuse/sale of treated wastewater, along with details of users of treated wastewater in the preceding financial year. Under the proposed rules, the local body, including public wastewater management authorities, shall be responsible for environmentally sound management of wastewater, including collection, treatment, reuse, and utilization/disposal. For Guwahati, enforcement of the rules is not going to be effective until sewage treatment plants with adequate capacity to treat wastewater discharged into the city’s drainage network become fully functional. Lessons must be learnt from failure to enforce the prohibition on Single Use Plastic (SUP) even after three years of notification. Wide circulation of SUP items, including plastic carry bags of prohibited thickness all over the city, is also a reminder to the MoEFCC and the central government that mere notification of the rules is not going to change the prevailing situation. For the rules to produce the desired result, the government must prioritize building critical infrastructure such as an efficient sewerage network and sound solid and liquid waste management. Ironically, implementation of key projects of waste management has been delayed, and the GMC authorities, its officials, and elected representatives are least bothered to identify gaps and remove those to fast-track the projects. When problems are known, solutions are available, and funds are also allocated, inordinate delay in execution is baffling. The Assam Cabinet approved Phase I of the Japan International Cooperation Agency-assisted Guwahati Sewerage Project in January. The project includes the establishment of three STPs with a capacity of 187 million litres a day and the laying of an extensive sewer network for the collection of wastewaters generated by over one lakh households in the South-Central region and a faecal sludge and septage treatment plant for Guwahati. Expeditious execution of these projects will modernize the sewerage infrastructure in the city. It is high time that these projects, highly important for public health and conservation of waterbodies, were freed from the lahelahe syndrome.