Install sewage plant or pay penalty: BWSSB

Bengaluru: Even as the BWSSB is struggling to make rain water harvesting compulsory, the Board is all set to penalize those  who are living in apartment complexes, but don’t have sewage treatment plants (STPs).

Come November 1, the Board will penalize apartment dwellers and the same will be reflected in the December bill. Although BWSSB mulled over the plan for months and a final gazette notification was passed in February, the Board has only now decided to implement the order.

According to BWSSB officials, STP is compulsory for any building constructed on 2,000 sq.mt (21,527 sq.ft) of land. While it was said that the STP rule was compulsory only for apartment complexes with a minimum of 20 flats, the BWSSB clarified that irrespective of the number of flats, any building standing on a 2,000 sq.mt plot of land should have STP.

“We realised that most of the old buildings are getting demolished and multi-storey buildings are springing up overnight. Since we can’t control the rampant construction, we decided that irrespective of the number of floors, any building on 2,000 sq.mt land should have mandatory STP,” said Kemparamiah, engineer-in-chief.

Although the BWSSB does not have the exact number of apartment and multi-storey connections, it will initially penalize the violators based on the RR number. Accordingly, it will levy 50 per cent of the bill as penalty for the first 3 months to its domestic consumers, while commercial consumers will have to pay double as penalty. Since all other methods have failed to evoke a positive response, a penalty ought to be the last resort, Kemparamiah said. “We have 9.18 lakh registered consumers, but most of the newly constructed buildings do not have sanitary connections. Pipelines from these buildings are often connected to drains, which clog or choke our underground drains. To curb such illegalities, we will visit every house and levy the penalty,” he said.

In extreme cases where STPs can’t be installed at old buildings, the BWSSB has decided to provide relaxations and will take case-to-case decisions.

How much an STP plant will cost?
Installing an STP for an apartment with five flats, will cost approximately around Rs 80,000. The STP can treat up to 8,000 litres of sewage every day. Bigger models with higher treating capacity will cost Rs 2-3 lakh per unit. If you’re worried about a space crunch, there are STPs available in the market which occupy the space of a refrigerator. Treated water can be used to recharge borewells or fed to percolation pits, apart from secondary purposes like gardening, car washing, flushing among others.