Ranchi Sewage Treatment Plant Underutilized, Illegal Connections Hamper Progress

Ranchi: The sewage treatment plant (STP) at Badgai is currently treating around 7-8 million litres per day (MLD) against its capacity of 37 MLD, officials said.Sludge generated during the process is being reused as manure by local farmers.

A plant official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The plant has been running efficiently and the treatment process ensures that the discharged water meets environmental standards.

Reuse of sludge in agriculture is also proving beneficial.”The phase-1 of the sewerage & drainage zone-1 project of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) aims to connect households from wards 1 to 5 and 30 to 33 to the sewer network.

While over 4,000 houses in wards 4 and 5 have been connected, nearly 40,000 across nine wards are yet to be linked. Officials said the system will stabilise further once all planned household connections are completed in the coming months.However, illegal household connections to sewer lines are emerging as a major hurdle, prompting RMC to issue a warning against residents directly connecting their household drains to manholes and inspection chambers.

In an official notice issued on Tuesday, RMC stated, “It has been observed that without permission, household drainage is being connected to manholes and inspection chambers, causing overflow and waterlogging. Residents are requested not to make such connections, failing which legal action will be taken.”Executive engineer Sanjeev Kumar said, “The network is still under expansion. Unauthorised connections are leading to overflow from chambers and waterlogging in several areas, creating inconvenience.”