Coimbatore, through which the River Noyyal passes, will soon be a part of the River-Cities Alliance (RCA), an initiative of the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga G. Asok Kumar, who was here on a two-day visit, told The Hindu on Thursday. “We are adding Coimbatore to the RCA programme to help revive the Noyyal. I find that there is not much industrial pollution here and it is mostly sewage that flows into water bodies. This is easily treatable.”
Traversing through Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode and Karur districts covering 160 km, the river is a tributary of Cauvery. The Alliance enables cities to network and build capacities.
In a visit organised by the Coimbatore-based NGO Siruthuli, Mr. Kumar visited several places along the river and studied its trajectory and current status of pollution. He also attended a meeting with the District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, Corporation Commissioner M. Prathap to discuss the action plan for Coimbatore.
“We have proposed to set up 17 STPs and provide necessary support to maintain them in the long run. But, first, we will send experts to find different approaches to this. The time frame to set up the STPs and revive Noyyal is about two-and-a-half-years,” Mr. Kumar said.
The officials also discussed removing temporary encroachments along the river’s banks and marking the river’s boundaries again as the first step to solve the multi-faceted issue of waste water management and rejuvenation of water bodies in the city. Currently, the three STPs at Ukkadam, Ondipudur and Nanjundapuram, have a capacity to filter 170 MLD of waste water per day, while the required capacity is over 222 MLD.
“People need to be included in the setting up of STPs so they know what it is and how it functions. In most cities, including Coimbatore, it is important that there is public awareness and participation,” he said.
Popularly known as the ‘Rain man of India’, Mr. Kumar said the Project Namami Gange, which aims to clean the river in five major cities, “Is on track to treat 7,000 MLD of waste water from the water body and there is greater participation from the States as well.”
