Nearly 10.9 million litre of sewage flows directly into Maharashtra's Powai lake every day, noted an eight-member committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The sewage flows through 19 culverts and natural drains from adjoining areas, including a slum, and the National Institute of Electrical Engineering (NITE) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-B) campuses.
The committee was formed on 12 January this year to draft a pollution remedial action plan for Powai lake.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been asked by the panel to provide a zonal map of the sewerage network of the areas surrounding the lake, including the area in sq km covered with and without sewerage network ward-wise/area-wise and the status of its connectivity to a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for treatment, if any, The Indian Express reported.
The committee also asked the BMC to provide real-time updates on levels of dissolved oxygen in Powai Lake on its website. Currently, six real-time stations are monitoring dissolved oxygen at the site.
The monitors were installed in 2019 after the then Union Environment Ministry told the Lok Sabha that industrial effluents and household sewage flowing into the lake had raised its pollution levels eight times above safe standards.
Observing that the "ground situation is far from satisfactory," the NGT had constituted the committee to prepare an action plan covering all aspects, including steps to prevent the discharge of sewage or any other effluents in Powai lake and to monitor water quality, The Indian Express reported.
Recognised as a wetland, Powai is a man-made lake constructed in 1891 and also acts as a habitat for crocodiles. Deemed unfit for drinking in 1893, the water from the lake is used for industrial purposes now.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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