With a view to further promote ‘Green Energy’ in the State, Gujarat government has cleared proposals worth Rs 13.61 crore for installation of solar plants to power as many as 15 water treatment plant and/or sewage plants of 11 nagarpalikas (municipalities).
These solar plants would generate approximately 2,835 kW power and save Rs 2.94 crore in the electricity bills.
The plants will be installed for Bardoli, Umargam, Botad, Songadh, Vijalpore,Ankleshwar, Jambusar, Navsari, Vyra, Unjha, and Surendranagar nagarpalikas.
Notably, Gujarat occupies 6.39% of India’s geopolitical area but has access to only 2.28% of the country’s water resources, which makes it imperative for the water-stressed state to explore the option of reusing treated waste water.
The state government took a lead by coming up with a policy in year 2018 for reuse of treated waste water. The policy envisions maximizing the collection and treatment of sewage generated, and reusing the treated waste water on a sustainable basis, thereby reducing dependency on fresh water resources.
The policy aims to reach minimum 80% coverage and collection of sewage in all municipal towns, and achieve a level of 100% treatment of collected sewage as per the prescribed standards.
Eventually, the policy aims to reuse 70% of treated waste water by 2025 and scale it up to 100% by 2030.
