Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) has established a 10 million liters per day (MLD) sewage treatment plant in the city of Udaipur. The new facility has increased the total capacity of the sewage treatment plants of HZL to 55 MLD.
In addition, the company is also set to complete its 5 MLD capacity unit in the coming weeks, which will further expand the capacity to 60 MLD. Designed on sequential batch reactors (SBR) technology – that ensures chemical free and biological processes; the new 10 MLD plant is producing treated water, 50% of which, is being sent to Aayad River.
The ‘City of Lakes’ – Udaipur generates roughly 70 MLD of sewage every day. HZL is also in the last leg of commissioning an additional 5 MLD plant, taking the STPs total capacity to 60 MLD, thereby treating almost the entire sewage of Udaipur city and recirculating clean water.
Sunil Duggal, CEO, Hindustan Zinc & Vedanta Limited, said, “We at Hindustan Zinc have always believed in empowering communities through ideas, resources and efforts. In 2014, we set-up Udaipur’s first sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 20 MLD under Public-Private-Partnership model. Over the past six years, we are inching towards tripling this capacity. This state of the art 10 MLD plant will further boost our efforts in pursuing our dream of a cleaner and water positive city.”
Ankit Kumar Sing, IAS, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Udaipur said, “We appreciate the efforts of HZL management for setting and completion of 55 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) including 10 MLD STP at Udaipur city, within the scheduled period, in accordance to the agreement. Vedanta’s Hindustan Zinc has been one of the preferred partners of Udaipur Municipal Corporation for all social development projects, and we appreciate the efforts they have done.”
The SBR technology has a better energy conservation rate whilst also providing chemical free treated water. The energy consumption has reduced on account of fully automated plant running on a hydraulics mechanism. The process of treatment is environment -friendly as well, since no hazardous emissions are generated during the process. An additional contribution to green and renewable energy also comes from the fact that Hindustan Zinc has efficiently utilised the space for these STP’s by developing solar panels in close vicinity.
Udaipur is among the cities selected under the Government of India’s Smart City Mission. Sewage inflow into Udaipur’s lakes was one of the biggest problems plaguing the ‘City of Lakes’ giving rise to high volumes of pollution. There was a need to develop alternative sources of potable water and conserve the same.
HZL’s units operate on the principle of ‘zero discharge’ and the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) represent a significant action taken towards conserving water as well as reducing discharge into the lakes. With this expanded capacity, the Company expects to treat maximum of Udaipur’s domestic sewage, helping reduce the dependencies on fresh water.
