In its bid to stop the dumping of waste, including septage, into the city’s river and canal network, the city Corporation is mulling a strategy involving steps like a licensing system for private agents who collect septage from homes and provision of pre-fabricated septic tanks for houses not having one and situated close to rivers.
Over the past few months, the health officials of the local body have been conducting a ground-level survey on the sources of septage and other waste, which are polluting the waterbodies in the Corporation area. A large number of families living along the rivers and canals have been found to be releasing faecal waste into the waterbodies.
Notices served
For instance, along the 12 kilometres of the Killi river in the city, 521 families release such waste into the water. Along the 18 kilometres of Parvathy Puthanar, the number of such families is 1928, while near the Karamana river, the number is 433. Notices were served to these families in recent weeks. The health inspectors have been asked to make a list of the house owners and public and private institutions which have not accepted the notice from the Corporation.
“Those who can afford it, have been asked to construct septic tanks and stop dumping waste into the river. If they continue to do so, the Corporation will initiate legal measures against them. For those who cannot afford it, the local body will provide pre-fabricated septic tanks. If two or three houses are located closely and there is no space in individual plots for a septic tank, we will think of a common one too,” said a Corporation official.
Regulation of private vehicles which collect septage from houses, using sucking machines, is another measure that is in the works. The plan is to introduce licences for such vehicles, and to route the requests from consumers for cleaning their septic tanks through a special control room.
The colour-coded vehicles will be tracked using GPS. Arrangements will be made to collect these waste at the sewage treatment plant in Muttathara, which is now running at 40% of its optimum capacity of 107 MLD. “Currently, there is no control on where these private parties dump the waste collected from houses. Many a time, it ends up in waterbodies,” said an official.
The vehicles will have an annual fee. The septage collection fee is proposed to be in three slabs, with a percentage of it going to the Corporation and rest to the private firm. The Health Committee will do the monitoring.
