Located at the foothills of the Himalayan mountain
ranges, Uttarakhand is one of India's youngest
states with rich natural resources.
Prakash Pant,
Water Resource Minister - Uttarakhand tells
Dhairya
Ingle that the challenge is not water and wastewater
treatment - the challenge is distribution network.
How can the private sector assist in expansion of India's sewage
treatment capacity?
The private sector can assist in the following ways:
- By investing in one time expenditure for infrastructure development and
take refund in installment.
- By providing opportunity for reuse of treaded effluent and by produces
such as manure, biogas etc.
- By providing land in their ownership if required.
Water supply, sewerage, solid waste management and storm water
drainage accounted for about 75 per cent of the total number of
projects sanctioned under JNNURM. Comment.
Since long, there was no vision for urban infrastructure development and
during this period towns grew fast. Therefore for improving the living
conditions in urban areas, drainage and sanitation is must. Sewerage, solid
waste and storm water drainage are inter-connected facilities - hence the
provision in these components is maximum.
Majority of sewage treatment plants have failed to achieve the
prescribed discharge standards. How can discharge standards in
sewage treatment plants be effectively monitored?
In Uttarakhand, no sewage treatment plant has failed to achieve the
prescribed discharge standards. Though the capacity needs to be
augmented and the norms are also revised. Presently the discharge
standards are being regularly monitored by the maintenance agency, state
pollution control board, and agency nominated by GOI
The proposed budget for National Rural Drinking Water Programme
(NRDWP) in 2011-12 is more than 
9000 crore - but drinking water
both qualitatively and quantitatively remains a dream across large
parts of rural India. Comment.
The proposed budget for NRDWP in the year 2011-12 for Uttarakhand
state is
144.88 crores. There are 39180 rural habitations in the state. Up
to 31st March 2011, around 29352 habitations have benefited with water
supply facilities. As on 01st April, 2011 there are 9828 habitations left to
be covered with water supply facilities - which shows 75 per cent
habitation coverage, hence the water supply facility provided in the state
can not be assessed as dream.
For the year 2011-12, 1341 rural habitations have been proposed to be covered
with water supply facilities. Up to June, 2011 in the year 2011-12, around 139
rural habitations have benefited with water supply facilities. At present there are
152 water supply schemes under NRDWP. Total estimated cost of these schemes is
452.21 crores with central share as
320.08 crore and state share as
132.13 crores. In Uttarakhand state, no hazardous contamination is found in the
various water sources. For testing of water samples, three water testing labs are
under the maintenance of Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan.
How can India cope with challenges in the water and wastewater
treatment sector?
The challenge is not water & waste water treatment - the challenge is
distribution network where water is contaminated. Water & wastewater
treatment is not a free resource - user and the polluter will have to pay for it.
These challenges can only be overcome by planned town development,
removing encroachment and resettlement.
Inefficient water, wastewater treatment is a major irritant across India.
Have we as a nation failed with regards to planning long term water
infrastructure?
No, it is not so. Due to limited resources, the expenditure has not been
made in wastewater sector. In water treatment, the situation is good.
Ground water is supplied with proper disinfection and surface water is
supplied with proper treatment.