Pune City located on both sides of rivers Mula & Mutha, is known as the cultural capital of Maharashtra. Situated 560 meters (1,837 feet) above the sea level on the Deccan plateau and lies between 18° 32"North latitude and 73° 51"East longitude, it’s the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai.
Pune is also known for manufacturing, automobiles, as well as government and private sector research institutions for information technology (IT) education, management and training. It is one of the fastest growing cities spread over an area of 243.84 sq kms. having present population of around 39 lakhs (2011 Census data). Population growth rate is about 29% during the last two decades.
With this rapid growth in population and industrialization, the water pollution of Mula-Mutha River has been a major concern of the Pune city in the recent years. The river (with a total length of 48 Km) traverses Pune city. Mula- Mutha river is among the 302 polluted river stretches in the country identified by CPCB. The pollution is primarily caused by discharge of untreated domestic & industrial wastewater into the river due to non-availability of requisite collection and sewage treatment capacity, dumping of solid waste as well as open defecation on the river banks and inadequacy of STP & pumping capacity. Rivers Mula & Mutha are also included in the list of polluted river stretches (BOD>30mg/l & BOD exceeding 6mg/l on all occasions) in the guidelines of NRCP.
So, based on the proposal from Govt. of Maharashtra and after detailed appraisal, the project for “Pollution Abatement of Rivers Mula-Mutha at Pune” under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change at a cost of Rs.990.26 Crores on 14-01-2016. Govt. of Japan (Japan International Cooperation Agency) has committed to provide funding in shape of soft loan to NRCD, Govt. of India for the project wherein the Central Govt. will fund 85% of the loan component & Pune Municipal Corporation will fund 15% of the total project cost.
Current Scenario:
- About 728 MLD sewage generated in Pune at present
- 567 MLD total treatment capacity available in 10 existing STPs.
- Out of 10 STPs, one STP (90 MLD) at Naidu is defunct. Thus, total effective treatment capacity available at present is only 477 MLD. However, due to inadequate pumping capacity and sewerage system only 392 MLD of sewage is being treated. About 336 MLD of sewage is finding its way to the river, thereby polluting the rivers
Existing Sewerage Facilities:
- Pune City covered with 92% of sewerage network having 2,200 Kms of length
- Six intermediate pump stations (IPS) for pumping the sewage
- 10 existing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs)
