Mumbai Port Trust to stop sewage discharge in sea

Mumbai: Under its plan to develop the proposed sewage treatment plant (STP), Mumb-ai Port Trust (MbPT) authorities have asked oil refineries in Wadala to use potable water that will be generated from the treatment plant in future.

A letter has been submitted to Bharat Petroleum regarding the same. The MbPT recently floated tenders to develop a STP in order to treat all the waste generated from port trust offices and residential spaces on its land.

The STP will be constructed on the port trust plot at Tejas Nagar, Wadala, in a bid to stop direct release of untreated sewage water into the sea. The total capacity of the treatment plant will be 3 million litres daily (MLD). “The STP can regenerate around 90 per cent of potable water in the initial stage. The water can be utilised for gardening activities on port trust land. Once the oil refineries show an interest, the same water will be provided to them,” said a MbPT official.

The port trust offices and residential spaces are scattered on Wadala land, which is why drawing se-wage can be a challenge. Therefore, the authorities have decided to collect 3 MLD sewage from the Wadala pumping station and take it to their own STP. According to officials, the transportation of sewage will require a 50m long pipeline. The pipeline will be laid below four railway tracks.

The official said, “The bidders for STP are expected to submit bids by December first week. However, many firms ha-ve queries regarding the project, which is why submission dates could be ex-tended to 15 days more.”