When just 55% of Jaipur was connected by sewers and most waste discharged directly into the Amani Shah nala, the once majestic Dravavati river was nowhere to be seen. Today, sewerage is up to 75% and sullage connectivity up from 35% to 75%
Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, is a major tourist attraction not only for foreign tourists ?doing? the Golden Triangle circuit of Agra, Delhi and Jaipur, but also domestic tourists who visit in growing numbers to savour the city?s history and its spirit of celebration. The latest addition to Jaipur?s tourism calendar is the Jaipur Literature Festival, which has been taking place every January since 2008; it attracted 10,000 visitors from across the world in 2011.
The history of Jaipur is relevant for current urban planners. Modern Jaipur was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Amber in 1727. At that time, Jaipur was one of the best-planned cities of the world. As the website points out, the Maharaja consulted widely before engaging a Bengali architect, Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, who planned Jaipur in a grid system with wide avenues, roads, streets, and lanes, and also uniform rows of shops on either side of the main bazaars, all arranged in 9 rectangular chowkris (sectors). Washington DC?planned much later?adopted the same principle.
Some of the grandeur of the old city can be felt as you drive down the roads named after the gods (e.g., Gopalji ka rasta) and/or the prominent families of Jaipur (e.g., Haldeon ka rasta). The city acquired its nickname of ?pink city? after it was painted pink in 1853 to welcome the Prince of Wales. The old city is still painted and maintained in pink, but during my visit last week, I saw some of it being turned to ?gerua?, which keeps the somewhat aristocratic pink sentiment intact, but reflects a contemporary preference for organic earth-tones.
Rapid economic growth has seen Jaipur city expand at a much faster pace than anticipated. The population has increased from 23.2 lakh in 2001 to 30.9 lakh in 2011. Tourism also brings with it a large floating population (estimated additionally at approximately 6 lakh). Census 2011 shows Jaipur as the 10th largest city in India. The expansion and maintenance of civic facilities to meet the growing demands of a fast-growing population has been a major challenge for Jaipur as for many other cities of India.
I wanted to know what Jaipur was doing for treatment and reuse of its waste water, an important challenge given the scarcity of water in the region. My interest was reinforced by a reference in the official website of Jaipur to the fact that an increasing population and growing scarcity of water in Amber were the principal reasons why the Maharaja felt the need to shift his capital 11 km away to Jaipur. In the face of the continuing pressure of its rapidly growing population and water scarcity, it is worth looking at how the current planners of Jaipur have tried to address the challenge of treating waste water generated from the city.
The sewage generation of Jaipur city is approximately 260 million litres per day (MLD) and is expected to reach 300 MLD by 2015. Prior to 2006, about 45% of the sewage disposal in the city of Jaipur was in soak pits. For the 55% or so which was covered by the sewerage network, the only sewage treatment plant was of a capacity of 27 MLD per day, at Brahmapuri. It was built by the public health engineering department of the Rajasthan government in the 1970s and could deal with only a tiny proportion of the waste water generated from Jaipur North.
Most of the sewage from the city was discharged directly into the 25 km long Amani Shah nala, which acted as a natural drain running from the North-West to South. The discharge was done through an outfall sewer (of 1,800 mm diameter) following the flow of gravity. At several places, sewer lines would discharge into the ?nala?. Legend has it that there was once a river, Dravavati nadi, flowing where the ?nala? is.
Until six years ago, farmers were using the untreated sewage for growing vegetables, which led to widespread stomach-related ailments. The percolation of untreated sewage also caused deterioration in the quality of water underground. The contamination of ground water, surface water, fertile soil and atmospheric air posed serious public health challenges for the residents of Jaipur.
Beginning with 2006, significant steps have been taken towards extending the sewerage network, increasing the connectivity of sullage (waste water from kitchens and bathrooms) in the walled city, and also setting up sewage treatment plants for treating waste water, first with funding from the Asian Development Bank and subsequently with help from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The sewerage network has expanded from 55% in 2005 to 75% as of September 2012, while sullage connectivity in the walled city has increased from 35% in 2005 to 75%.
On waste water treatment, the Asian Development Bank support was used not only to upgrade the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Brahmapuri but also build the first major STP in 2006. The plant was set up at Delawas by the Rajasthan Urban Infrastructure Development Project (RUIDP) with a capacity to treat 62.5 MLD of waste water from Jaipur South. The waste water after treatment is now discharged into the Amani Shah Nala, from where it goes ultimately to Ramachandrapura dam, about 15 km away from Jaipur.
More recently, in 2012, a second STP of 62.5 MLD capacity has been set up by the Jaipur Nagar Nigam at the same location of Delawas so that the two units together match the capacity of the trunk main, which brings sewage to Delawas. Yet another STP, with a capacity to treat 50 MLD of waste water, has been set up at Jaisinghpura khor in the northern direction of the city. Altogether, this means that close to 80% of the waste water in Jaipur is being treated.
A power plant has also been set up at Delawas using the biogas produced by the first STP. The power generation unit generates 0.5 MW of electricity, which fully meets the power requirements of the STP. As Mr Loknath Soni, the CEO of Jaipur Nagar Nigam put it, ?the power plant showcases the state of the art technology, making it possible to operate the sewage treatment plant in a sustainable manner.? Mr Hemant Kumar Sharma, superintendent engineer of RUIDP, who showed me around the plants enthusiastically, informed me that the Delawas STP has been showcased in the ADB list of projects as a best practice.
The system as a whole not only treats waste water but produces manure and also biogas, which generates power to feed the power requirements of the STP. The Activated Sludge Process used in the waste water treatment at these plants yields: (i) manure after an elaborate process of screening and grit separation of sewage, sedimentation in primary clarifiers, dewatering, and digestion of the sludge over a 21 day period in digestors, and (ii) biogas, which is generated during the process of digestion of the sludge and then cleaned of the impurities of moisture, particulate material and hydrogen sulphide. In the more recent STP of 62.5 MLD capacity at Delawas, the economic option of selling the biogas while buying power to run the STP is also being explored.
In all such infrastructure projects, operation and maintenance is crucial for service delivery. In the STPs as well as the power generation unit, the O&M has been entrusted to the contractors who built the respective plants for periods varying from 5 to 15 years.
All in all, Jaipur has come a long way in addressing the challenge of waste water treatment. If the sullage connectivity in the walled city can be ensured without too much delay, an integrated solution should be possible.
Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia is Chairperson, ICRIER and also former Chairperson of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure Services, which submitted its report to MoUD in March 2011
