GUWAHATI: After every smart pour, the city drains swell to engulf the roads and low-lying areas of the city, a predicament that the concerned departments could not solve over the past decade.
While the hills inside the city and the encroachments there are the primary reasons behind the accumulation of rain water in the low-lying areas such as Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar etc, city residents also blame the government departments – Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), and Public Works Department (PWD) – involved in mitigating the flash flood problem.
This was revealed in a survey conducted by G Plus – Let’s Talk Guwahati – in which more than 10,000 citizens in more than 100 locations of the city were asked to provide suggestions on how to solve the water logging problem of the city.
A majority 69.2 per cent of the total respondents suggested that the authorities should conduct more drives to de-silt the city drains, 56.4 per cent said that the city needs an underground sewerage system and 53.1 per cent respondents said that the district authority should evict those who have encroached the water bodies in and around the city.
On the other hand, about 21 per cent of the total respondents opted for all the three suggested solutions and opined that the authorities should put an all out effort to mitigate this problem.
Sarma’s concerns hold true as over the past few years, apart from causing inconveniences, flash floods and water logging have also resulted in injuries and casualties.
In 2013, a person had died of electrocution in the flash floods while in 2014, eight persons died of landslides and electrocution and one went missing. This continued till last year when three persons died of electrocution at inundated places.
Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi had formed a committee to address the problem and in 2015, though water logging occurred, the magnitude of the floods, according to the city residents, was not as severe until last year.
This year, with the construction of a new drain and thanks to a low monsoon, there was no major water logging, but the city faced few short-lasting flash floods.
While there were de-siltation drives in the major arteries of the city by the GMC and PWD, clogged drains remain a major reason behind the city’s water logging problem.
In an earlier survey by G plus – in which 50 persons each from the 31 wards of the city were asked on 15 living parameters – it was revealed that in 26 wards, flash floods is a perennial problem. The survey also revealed that maintenance of the drains was irregular in all the 26 wards.
Underground sewerage system, still a far cry
Guwahati, unlike other cities, is still dependent on natural storm water drainage channels for its sewage disposal which gets clogged during monsoons and causes flash floods.
The on-going Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA)-funded projects that is responsible for supplying water to North Guwahati and South-Central Guwahati is also responsible for constructing underground sewerage system along the water pipelines. However, the project has hit a logjam over acquisition of land for setting up of the sewage treatment plant.
Talking about the functioning of the sewerage system when it will be completed, S. Venkatesan, managing director of Guwahati Metropolitan Water and Sewage Board under the Guwahati Jal Board that is looking over the completion of the project, said, “Along the water pipelines, the underground sewerage lines have also been set up. These will carry the sewage from the houses to the treatment plant. There, the recyclable waste, the compost producing wastes and non-recyclable wastes will be segregated. Once, segregation is done, the water will be much purer and can be released in the Brahmaputra. The recyclable wastes on the other hand, will be handed over to the recycling plants, while with the composts, manures will be produced and the non-recyclable wastes will be dumped at the Bora Gaon dumping ground.”
“Once this system is set up, it will considerably bring down the quantity of waste being dumped in the channels,” Venkatesan said.
However, Venkatesan said, “There are not lands available to set up the sewage treatment plant as it requires at least 21 bighas of land at the outskirts of the city. We have allocated a large piece of land near the Deepor Beel, but that has already been encroached upon. So, we are trying to set up small units near that area. We have sent the proposal and are waiting for a green signal from the state government,” he added.
The Guwahati Jal Board had also prepared a detailed project report of sewage treatment plants in the city back in 2008, but it did not see its completion yet.
According to the DPR, Guwahati was divided into three main sewage catchments: one on the north side of the Brahmaputra River and two on the south, the latter comprising roughly the water supply west zone and the central and east water supply zones. The Asian Development Bank-financed facility will augment the water supply and sewerage services in the south-eastern zone extending to over 15 municipal wards.
At present the two minor sewage treatment plants within the city belong to the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) at Noonmati and the Northeast Frontier Railway at Maligaon. Guwahati does not have a sewage treatment plant or a proper sewerage system. Untreated sewage, currently finds its way into the Brahmaputra river and the water body Deepor Beel through the natural storm water channels such as Bharalu, Bahini, Basistha etc.
“The sewerage and sanitation improvement subproject will address the incremental wastewater generated by channelling those through trunk sewers, treatment plant, sewer networks, pumping stations, and maintenance equipment,” a source in the Guwahati Jal Board said.
The source informed that the project is under process and currently pipe laying works are on.
“After laying the pipes, we will mull on setting up of the sewage treatment plant. It is a massive project and it’s linked with the important water projects that got delayed due to several reasons,” the source added.
The stalled project and the installed drain lines
While flash floods have been wreaking havoc, the city’s fate had long been hanging on two major drain projects by the GMDA – the Noonmati Drainage system that was commissioned this year and the Rs 115 crore worth drainage project through the Basistha River that has been in loggerheads since its inception.
Currently, most of the city's flood water is channelled naturally through the Bharalu and the Bahini rivers. With a rise in the city’s load on those rivers due to the lack of a sewerage system, the rivers during monsoons get overloaded and to mitigate which, GMDA uses water pumps. Although the system gives a momentary relief, heavy showers often bring misery to the residents.
The Noonmati drainage system has taken off the load of water from the Soonsali and Chandmari hills and diverted it to the Brahmaputra through Bonda; thus, easing the flash flood spats in Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar, R.G Baruah road etc.
However, the delay in commissioning of the Basistha system has left the Khanapara, Six mile areas vulnerable to flash floods due to water coming down from the Meghalaya hills.
This year itself, these areas received two rounds of flash floods with the most recent being on August 24, when buses and cars needed to be evacuated.
The detailed report of the project that is awaiting sanction from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the construction agency that is building it under the GMDA, was sanctioned by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal last year.
“The plan was to make an alternative channel through which the water, coming down from the hills in Meghalaya, will be channelled into Basistha. GMDA had conducted a survey and assessed the amount of rain water that comes down from Meghalaya hills during peak rain. A channel is being constructed within the Assam border to collect the rain water and channel it to the Basistha river," Dhiren Baruah, Chairman of GMDA said.
"The first phase (project cost Rs 115 crore) has already been commissioned,” Baruah added.
Sources in NHAI said that the delay in commissioning is due to encroachments near and around the Deepor Beel.
“We have informed the district administration to clear the encroachment on the Deepor Beel. While most are small huts, there are few RCC buildings which also need to be evicted,” the source said.