A meeting to review inlet effluent quality standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) operating in the State of Haryana was held on December 6 under the Chairmanship of Sh. P. Raghavendra Rao, Chairman, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB).
Sh. Rajneesh Garg, State President of Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Dr. Ashawant Gupta, Ambala Chapter Chairman attended the meeting through video conferencing. The meeting had about 30 participants, including the MD HSIIDC, senior officials of HSPCB Panchkula office, Regional Officers of HSPCB from various districts, and a few other trade organization representatives.
It was informed by the Chairman that the pollution control board is proposing to fix BOD and COD values for inlet effluent that enters the CETPs. Basically, it means that the industries will need to ensure that their discharge/effluent meets the standards set. This is being done as currently the CETPs are overburdened and are not designed to handle the load that they are facing.
On behalf of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sh. Rajneesh Garg effectively put forth the following point of view of the industry.
- First of all, regarding the norms that are being proposed, we the industry need time to study it further to understand and decide our response. The Chairman agreed and asked the ROs to coordinate with the industry and revert.
- Currently, CETPs are catering to both normal sewerage as well as trade effluent. There is no separate line for sewerage and effluent gets mixed with it and in such situation, imposing a norm for BOD on the industry is not justified.
The gist of the meeting or the takeaway for the industry is as follows:
- The department is serious about implementing the pollution norms
- We can contest and request for lenient norms, but whatever norms are decided, need to be followed.
- Old industries who are discharging effluent directly into storm water drain or into sewerage line need to STOP.
- They may create a collection chamber in their premises and do preliminary treatment before discharge so that the inlet parameters for CETP are met.