Installing STPs need of the hour

At a time when the fresh drive launched by the authorities to clean the world famous Dal Lake, the decision to install Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all houseboats has brought new hopes for the neat and clean water body after the deteriorating situation for several years. A report has come to the fore where the authorities in concerned Lakes Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) have said that the STPs will be installed in 650 houseboats in Dal Lake. However, the previous figures available have indicated that STPs, necessary to treat sewage, have sadly not been of much help in treating the Dal Lake’s pollution problem. An estimation done by the then Lakes and Waterways Development Authorities (LAWDA) has mentioned that nearly 50 million litres of sewage flows into the Dal Lake daily, of which 20 million litres is untreated as it was a time when there were a total of five STPs in Srinagar of which three were exhausted. Therefore, the time calls for installing the STPs in the houseboats to make the visible changes on the ground as the least number of STPs will never help the administration in cleaning the famous Dal Lake. It is a time when the authorities should stick to their sayings and ensure the implementation of its decisions on the ground to help the famous water body to breathe again.