Septage management needed to fulfil Clean Ganga Mission, building toilets not the answer

The Central government has been implementing various projects to clean India's lifeline, the Ganga river but the ground realities are quite far from being desirable believes CSE.

One of the key efforts focus on sanitation.

"While the intention is clear and commendable, the ways and means being adapted for reaching the goal seem suspect,” says Suresh Rohilla, programme director, water management, CSE.

Debunking the myth that toilets would be the panacea for all sanitation-linked evils -- including the practice of open defecation -- CSE experts pointed out that building toilets will not stop people from defecating in the open. Simply building more toilets will not improve sanitation in the Ganga basin.

The entire purpose behind Namami Gange will stand defeated because 180 million litres of faecal sludge will find their way into the Ganga from the 30 million septic tanks and pits that the Swachh Bharat Mission is promising to create in this region, said CSE experts.

“Unless Swachh Bharat Mission addresses septage (faecal sludge) management, Ganga will not run clean,” said Rohilla.

Every day, the Ganga basin region generates 7,301 million litres (MLD) of wastewater. It can treat merely 2,125 MLD, CSE said.

Every day, over 6,000 million litres of wastewater flows into the Ganga from 138 drains. Once the 118 towns and settlements along the river achieve open defecation-free status, they will generate and deposit a humungous additional pollution load into the river.

The government has instituted the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) as the only programme that requires cities to submit a sewage and septage management plan.

But AMRUT fails on two counts, according to CSE: it is restricted to Class 1 cities, and it monitors urban local bodies’ performance based only on their sewerage coverage. This discourages authorities to prepare septage management plans. Very few cities along the Ganga treat their faecal sludge, and that too in miniscule amounts.

Simply putting in place technologies to clean the river, or building sewage treatment plants (STPs) will not work either, said CSE. “It is too expensive to build an STP and a sewerage network in every city. Running such plants is also not affordable,” clarified Rohilla.

According to CSE, there is enough evidence to show that faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM) is not only economical compared to a centralised sewerage system, but can also be implemented quickly to make cities clean and healthy. An International Water Management Institute (IWMI) study of 2,367 cities along the Ganga says FSSM in these cities will cost about Rs 18,900 crore, while the cost of laying sewerage networks and STPs will come to a whopping Rs 117,400 crore.

“The future lies in septage,” says Rohilla.

Image: Namami Gange Twitter