Gangapur water to be lifeline for a clean Godavari

NASHIK: The district administration has decided to use the water reserved in the Gangapur dam to flush out the filth of the Godavari and maintain its Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) below 10 units during Kumbh as directed by the Bombay high court two years ago.
The HC directions came in the wake of a National Environment Engineering Research Institute order to the pollution control board to ensure strictest of measures to maintain the BOD below 10 units.
"The water from the Gangapur dam or that from catchments in the city will maintain the required BOD in the river during the kumbh mela," divisional revenue commissioner of Nashik Eknath Dawle said after a meeting conducted by chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya in the city on Friday.
The chief secretary was on two-day visit to study the preparations by various government agencies for the Kumbh Mela. During the meeting, civic officials expressed their inability to treat every unit of water in the river during Kumbh Mela to bring the BOD well below 10 units. They said the existing number of sewage treatment plans would be able to treat the sewage water generated in the city on a daily basis. BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period.
Currently, the STPs treat 404 million litre of water per day (mld). During Kumbh, the capacity will be 480 mld. The augmentation of the STPs at Nashik Road and Panchavati are scheduled to add 68 mld in capacity. "The existing system would barely be enough to treat the additional waste generated during Kumbh. Besides, the demand of reducing the BOD below 5 from the existing fluctuating count of around 17 units will need a huge investment and machinery. The process time for this will be difficult in a short span of time," municipal commissioner Praveen Gedam said.
Dawle said the present count of BOD was between 15 and 20 and there were efforts to bring it down further. "No untreated waste is being released into the Godavari and it is in a better condition than what it used to be some time ago. As far as BOD is concerned, the water released from Gangapur will bring its level down during Kumbh," he added.