Ganga gets a new lease of life in Kanpur

Located on the west bank of river Ganga, Kanpur is a densely populated city famous for its leather industries.

The city produces an estimated 450 million litres of municipal sewage and industrial effluent daily, a majority of which was flowing directly into the holy river until recently.

However, with the launch of the Namami Gange Programme that aims to clean and rejuvenate the Ganga, 13 out of 16 major drains in Kanpur have been completely tapped and the sewage and industrial effluent has been diverted to Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs).

In November 2018, a century old Sisamau drain, which produces over 140 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage, was completely stopped from discharging sewage into the Ganga.

This was the biggest drain-tapping initiative undertaken at a cost of over Rs. 60 crore.

The sewage has been diverted via pipelines to two sewage treatments plants (STPs) on the outskirts of the city - 80 million litres a day to Bhingawan STP and 60 MLD to Jajmau STP.

The tapping of major drains in Kanpur is a big achievement to keep the holy river and its tributaries clean.

Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General of National Mission for Clean Ganga, said, "In Kanpur, there are two rivers - Ganga and Pandu.

Six drains go to Pandu River and 16 rivers come to Ganga. On both sides, drains have been tapped. Now, we are left with three drains flowing into Ganga and three into Pandu."

"We have sanctioned new STP as part of one city, one operator concept. Whichever drains have not been tapped are part of that project.

There is integrated planning so that drains flowing into either Pandu or Ganga rivers are all tapped. Major drains have already been tapped," he added.

Under the AMRUT Scheme, sewer infrastructure will be developed for houses located on the banks of Ganga by 2020 so that the household waste does not flow directly into the river.

Hailed as the "leather city of the world", Kanpur has 400 small, medium and big tanneries, many of which are over a century old.

With the launch of Namami Gange programme, stringent action against these tanneries has been taken so that no effluents flow into the river.