To keep Dal Lake neat and clean, the department of Lakes conservation and management authority is going to install sewage treatment plants (STPs) in all houseboats here, an LCMA official said on Friday.
They said the tenders in this connection have been issued. The project will be completed by the end of October. The officer also stated that all the 80 houseboats in Nigeen Lake are connected with STPs and their sewage is discharged in the proper way.
Earlier, the sewage of houseboats in Srinagar was directly going to Dal Lake, which was polluting the lake. The senior citizens’ have expressed their concerns over the excessive delay in the installation of STPs in Dal Lake.
They said the lake is getting polluted as thousands of quintiles of sewage are directly entering the lake, which is a major threat to the ecological balance of the lake.
Executive Engineer LCMA Mohammad Ashraf Baba told on the Nigeen side, there are around 80 houseboats, all of them connected to a single line.
He stated that “One STP is installed at Bramri Nambal, which is the biggest STP having capacity of (60.1) MLD, and another STP is at Nallah Amirkhan, where Nigeen houseboats are connected with this STP.”
The officer said the tender for two clusters has been issued and work on them is going on. He went on to say that the work on 11 other clusters would begin after final tendering at Dal Lake.
The three STPs that were installed in 2008 were based on the old Fluidized Aerobic Bio-reactor (FAB) technology at Lam, Habak, and Hazratbal.
It is to be noted here that, earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir government had prepared a detailed project for the restoration of Dal and Nigeen lakes.
The said project was funded by the Prime Minister’s Development Package after the J&K government submitted a DPR to the federal government for its financing.
A revised DPR for Rs 373 crore has been created and is awaiting approval. The preparation of an integrated DPR for the twin lakes’ conservation, costing Rs 373 crore according to officials, is aimed at restoring the past glory of these water bodies, according to a senior official.
The goal of the project, according to officials, is to improve the quality of water through watershed management, the establishment of a sewerage network for 28 hamlets within the lake, and lake area dredging.
In April this year, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off ‘Athwas’, a partnership between citizens and authorities for the rejuvenation of Srinagar’s iconic Dal Lake.
He on the occasion said that, “Underscoring that effective community participation is vital to develop and conserve ecological heritage, adding that de-weeding and dredging will be conducted in collaboration with the citizens.
The Lt Governor further observed that dedicated efforts have been initiated in the last two years to clean Dal Lake and for conservation and protection of other water bodies across J&K. In this year’s budget, Rs 373 crore has been allocated for the development and conservation of Dal and Nageen lakes.
