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Under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, every industry has to provide adequate treatment of its effluents before disposal, irrespective of whether it is in stream, land, sewerage system of sea. The small scale industrial units (SSI), which are presently defined as units whose plant and machinery are valued at less than Rs. 5 crore occupy an important place in the country's economy. The SSIs are a major contributor to the total industrial pollution load of the country. However, only a small fraction of the effluent discharge from these units is estimated to be treated as on date.
SSIs, due to their limited size and scale of operations do not find it economically viable to install dedicated pollution control equipment and therefore the concept of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) is suitable for them. CETPs help in achieving end-of-pipe treatment of combined wastewater of the SSIs at lower unit cost and also facilitate better monitoring by the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs).
The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has been implementing a centrally sponsored scheme for CETPs since 1991. In the light of the operational deficiencies in the earlier scheme, the development of pollution control technologies over the year and also the financial constraints on the part of SSI proponents and the recommendations of SPCBs related thereto, a need was felt to revise the earlier guidelines for central assistance to CETPs.
The central assistance for CETPs will be available for:
- Establishment of new CETPs in an industrial estate or a cluster of SSIs.
- Upgradation/modernization proposal for CETPs earlier financed through the MoEF shall be considered for one time funding. However, there has to be adequate justification for the same and the time interval between the commissioning of the existing CETP and the submission of proposal for upgradation/ modernization to the Central Government should not be less than 7 years.
The project cost may include (a) Plant and Machinery for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary treatment (b) On-site laboratory with standard set of instruments and (c) Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) and related technologies.
Large and Medium scale industries, other than those belonging to the 17 categories of heavily polluting industries, may join the CETP after the primary treatment or as considered necessary by the concerned SPCB for the purpose of hydraulic load and for the techno-economic viability of the CETP. However, it has to be ensured that the CETP primarily services the effluent discharged by the SSIs.
The guidelines outline the pattern of financial assistance and the extent of central subsidy. The central assistance will be provided only to meet capital costs. No assistance will be provided for meeting recurring or operation and maintenance costs. The Central Government shall not have any liability towards time and cost over runs. There is no provision for retrospective funding. Central assistance cannot be used as seed money for the CETP.
The role of the project proponent/beneficiary is -
- In order to manage the CETP, there should be a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) registered under an appropriate statute.
- A legal agreement between the SPV and its member units clearly delineating their relationship and mutual obligations should be executed and reflected in the feasibility report of the CETP project. The cost recovery formula developed for the CETP project should be ratified by all members.
- An environment management plan should be prepared for the CETP and should be documented in the feasibility report.
- The inlet and outlet effluent standards of the CETP should be complied with irrespective of the degree of treatment i.e primary, secondary or tertiary. Continuous flow meters should be installed at the outlet of the CETP to monitor the same.
- The technical appraisal of the proposal should be done by reputed institutes like Indian Instituted of Technology (IITs) Engineering Colleges or relevant Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) institutions.
- Financial Appraisal of a CETP proposal shall be undertaken through a Nationalized Bank whether a loan is secured or not.
- Adequate linkage with treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF) for disposal of hazardous waste generated from the facility should be ensured.
- The proposal should incorporate a scientific sludge management plan based on the sludge characteristics (i.e hazardous or non-hazardous).
- It may be operationally advantageous to link the CETP inlet with the municipal sewage system. In such cases the project proponent should enter into a suitable agreement, including cost sharing, with concerned agency.
- The land for the CETP shall be arranged by the project proponent and the Central Government will not provide any assistance for this component.
- The project proponent or the State Government shall provide backward and forward linkages for the CETPs.
- There shall not be any multiplicity of funding from different Government Agencies for a CETP.
- A Memorandum of Association (MoA) shall be executed between the CETP operator and the participating industrial units with the following components:
- Member industries of a CETP shall carry the required primary treatment to meet inlet quality standards or design inlet quality parameters of CETP.
- Member industries of a CETP shall monitor specified quality parameters and flow rate of the effluent on daily basis and submit the monitoring data to the CETP operator on regular basis.
- Member industries of a CETP shall regularly pay their share towards meeting the treatment cost and operation and maintenance of a CETP.
The land for establishment of the CETP may be provided by the State Government or its agencies. The SPCB/ State Government/ Union Territory Administration/PCC should ensure that forward and backward linkages are in place including proper conveyance system from the individual units to the CETP effluent. These could alternatively, be also provided by the State Government or it agencies. SPCBs should monitor the progress of the CETP Project and ensure its timely completion. Outlet norms for the industry shall be prescribed by SPCB in consent as a necessary condition. SPCBs shall also ensure that the outlet parameters for the individual industry and inlet parameters for CETP are in synergy.
CETP operator shall be responsible for compliance of inlet quality and flow from the contributing industries and shall provide status of non-complying units to SPCB for action on monthly basis. CETP operator shall carry the required treatment to meet final effluent quality standards for CETPs.
CETP operator shall monitor specified quality outlet parameters and flow rate on daily basis and submit the monitoring data to the SPCB on regular basis. Parameters to be specified by SPCB shall be monitored by the CETP operator online at outlet of a CETP and IT based linkage shall be provided by the operator to the SPCB. The SPCB shall ensure that continuous 24 hour data is displayed on its website.
A three tier monitoring mechanism viz. at industry level, monitoring by SPCB and third party monitoring shall be undertaken.
The proposal for establishment/ upgradation of CETP forwarded by the SPCBI PCC along with duly appraised DPR and the check list will be taken up for consideration by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The proposal shall be scrutinized by the Appraisal Committee on CETPs chaired by the concerned Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Subsequent to the approval by the competent authority, funds (50%) shall be released by the Central Government commensurate with those released by the State Government (25%). The concerned State Government/SPCB or the CPCB shall periodically review the progress of the CETP scheme and carry out mid course corrections, if required. Post commissioning evaluation will be done by CPCB.
Download the revised guidelines here -