Karnataka Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Ramalinga Reddy has directed the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to ensure that sewage treatment plants across Bengaluru comply with standards prescribed by the National Green Tribunal and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). Plants found to be non-compliant have been given 30 days to meet the prescribed requirements, according to a report by Bangalore Mirror.
The minister has also directed the KSPCB to inspect private sewage treatment plants across the city. The inspections will cover facilities serving apartment complexes, educational institutions, commercial complexes, hospitals and office buildings. The stated objective is to verify whether these plants are operating in accordance with the applicable standards.
The directive places both public and private sewage treatment infrastructure under scrutiny. BWSSB has separately been asked to divert sewage flowing into stormwater drains, repair damaged manholes and complete pending sewer connections. These measures address several points in Bengaluru’s wastewater network, from treatment capacity and plant-level compliance to leaks, damaged infrastructure and incomplete connections.
The KSPCB and BWSSB will also jointly inspect industrial waste, with particular attention to the Peenya and Jigani industrial areas. The report did not provide details of the inspection schedule, the number of private treatment plants to be examined or the enforcement action that would follow if facilities fail to comply after the 30-day period.
Bengaluru currently generates 2,580 million litres of sewage per day, while its treatment capacity is reported at 1,364.5 million litres per day. This leaves a reported gap of 1,215.5 million litres per day between sewage generation and treatment capacity. Ongoing projects are expected to reduce that gap to 8.5 million litres per day by 2029.
The figures indicate the scale of the city’s wastewater management challenge. The minister’s directions cover both the operation of existing treatment plants and the condition of the sewerage system that carries sewage to them. They also extend oversight to private facilities located within large residential, institutional, commercial, healthcare and office developments.
The immediate compliance deadline applies to sewage treatment plants that do not meet the standards prescribed by the National Green Tribunal and the KSPCB. The next steps identified in the report are inspections by the pollution control board, joint checks of industrial waste by KSPCB and BWSSB, and action by BWSSB on stormwater-drain diversion, damaged manholes and pending sewer connections.
