With the Kerala High Court directing the constitution of a high-level group to address issues related to septage management in Kochi, the demand for a centralised treatment plant is gathering momentum. The High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji ordered the formation of the committee based on the petition filed by the Apartment Owners Apex Association. 

The apartment owners moved the court after the Pollution Control Board had directed the KSEB to disconnect power in apartment complexes which did not have a sewage treatment plants (STPs). This directive forced the apartment associations to mobilise funds to install STPs, however, many associations faced scarcity of land and other challenges in installing the plant.

As per the HC order, the committee includes the Principal Secretary, Local Self Government Department, the Chairperson of the State Pollution

Control Board, the Managing Director of the Kerala Water Authority and the Secretary of the Kochi Municipal Corporation. The group has been directed to study the issues and to submit a report regarding the long-term solutions. 

The study group has been constituted with these senior officers for a specific purpose, as a solution needs to be found within the framework of law,

after considering the necessary infrastructure which is available and required, without there being any unnecessary outside influence. The work shall not be delegated by either of the officers in the study group, the HC has directed.

The group will submit a preliminary report, outlining the areas that need to be addressed, within a period of four weeks and a detailed report will be submitted later. The Principal Secretary, LSGD, is also the chairman of the State Level Technical Committee (SLTC) under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme. Launched in 2015, the centre-sponsored scheme aims at developing infrastructure under various sectors, including sewerage and septage management. 

As per the latest progress report submitted by the PCB to the National Mission for Clean Ganga, Kochi has three STPs: one at Marine Drive (GCDA) with a capacity of 0.9 MLD, another at Elamkulam with a capacity of 5 MLD and the third at Kaloor with 0.75 MLD capacity. In the petition, the Apartment Owners An. "If the huge funds allocated for providing the centralised STPs and other infrastructure is properly utilised, there will be no need for the hundreds of private STPs to be established within the small city of Kochi," the association said in the petition.

It further says that the establishment of STPs in the compound of each apartment complex will be economically disadvantageous not only to the apartment owners but even to the state. "There could also be quality and efficiency issues involved when hundreds of STPs are allowed to discharge the effluent to canals or streams. In all other cities, this problem is tackled by having a public STP of large capacity for an urban locality. The demand for an underground sewer network for Kochi Municipal Corporation has evolved way back in 1970 itself, as noted in the Detailed Project Report of AMRUT-2," the owners pointed out in the petition.