Odisha Will Be Torch Bearer for Country in Grey Water Management

Bhubaneswar: A State level workshop on Grey Water Management was held today in Bhubaneswar Chaired by G. Mathivathanan, Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department.

Speaking on the occasion Mathivathanan emphasized on the urgency of grey water management in Urban areas in view of Hon’ble NGT direction not to discharge polluted used water to water bodies. Grey Water is the used water released from bathrooms, laundries and kitchen outlets.

He said we have been working for the transformative urban initiatives in accordance with the 5T mandate of Governance. Many of our initiative have not only been appreciated in the country but has been Globaly applauded We have successfully piloted the greywater management in two of our ULBs i.e Jatani & Dhenkanal. The Expert Committee constituted as per direction of the NGT (National Green Tribunal) visited the pilot area of Jatni Municipality and have submitted their recommendations. Now we are going to implement it in 11 Lighthouse ULBs. These 11 ULBs will be torch bearers for other nearby ULBs.

Mathivathanan emphasized that the approach of “Grey Water Management”, engineered by the State Officials of Odisha with community participation at its core would be an unique scheme not only for the state but also for cities outside Odisha. In this approach, grey water will be managed at household level, lane or street level, community level and at the outfall level.

Director Municipal Administration, Sangramjit Nayak, in his speech highlighted success of 2 pilot ULBs in managing greywater. The 11 ULBs have high team spirit and potential to take up the new challenge of grey water management. He appreciated the efforts of these ULB Officials in implementing different initiatives of the Urban Development Department. He emphasized that following the success of the pilot areas, it was decided to scale up the efforts of the Greywater management in the 11 Lighthouse ULBs which have been specially chosen to become the torch bearer for the State.

Prasanta Kumar Mohapatra, EIC, OWSSB gave a presentation on success of greywater management programme in Jatni & Dhenkanal which were executed by the ULB teams since September 2021. Sarada Prasad Panda, Joint Secretary & Nodal Officer, MUKTA made a vivid presentation on MUKTA as the programmes shall be implemented under MUKTA.

The Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons actively participated in the orientation programme and appreciated the new initiative of the Housing & Urban Development Department which will contribute to Swachh Odisha and Sustha Odisha.

At the outset, Debasis Singh, Additional Secretary welcomed the Guests and Rabindra kumar Sahoo, Additional Secretary proposed a hearty vote of thanks. In the 2nd half, the participants went on a visit to Jatni to see the grey water projects. The Chairman, Vice Chairman, Executive Officers and other concerned officers & TULIP professional of Angul, Balasore, Bargarh, Chatrapur, Dhenkanal, Hinjilicut, Jajpur, Jatni, Keonjhar, Koraput & Nayagarh ULBs attended the orientation programme.