High Court directs authorities to upgrade five STPs
With the Pollution Control Board indicating in its report that the dissolved oxygen levels in the Dal lake have gone down drastically below the permissible levels due to the continuous flow of domestic sewerage from the back channels, the J&K High court today directed the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) to explore the possibility of reducing the timeline given for the upgrade of the five existing sewage treatment plants (STPs).
The court also directed the authorities to expedite the proposal for installing a new STP at Gupt Ganga in the Ishber Nishat side of the Dal, which helps in arresting the inflow of the untreated sewage into the lake.
The court said from the perusal of the water assessment report submitted by the Pollution Control Board (PCB), which has taken samples from 17 different sites in the lake, it was found that the dissolved oxygen levels were below the permissible levels in the Jogi lankar and Nayidyar areas of the lake.
The PCB, while giving out reasons for the low dissolved oxygen levels and other water parameters that were found to be beyond the permissible limits, further submitted in its report that the continuous discharge of domestic sewage into the lake was responsible for the degrading water quality of the lake.
As per the report, the dissolved oxygen levels have been found below the permissible levels near the existing STPs as per the new set standards, which has necessitated the upgrade of these plants.
The court was of the view that sooner the STPs were brought to the level where these met the upgraded standards of the water quality, the better it would be for the health of the lake and its environs.
