General

Sanitation is essential for enhancing the quality of life and improving productivity. The International Water Supply and Sanitation Decade had fixed goals for the sanitation sector. Yet they remain mostly unfulfilled. Although the five year plans laid importance to urban sanitation, in the absence of sufficient financial support from the Central and State Governments, the sector did not make much headway

In Tamil Nadu, underground sewerage schemes are in existence only in 16 towns, comprising 4 Corporations and 12 Municipalities in the State and that too with partial coverage. However, the State Government have accorded priority for implementation of sewerage schemes for district headquarters and all municipalities and places of tourism importance

 Agencies involved

The task of providing safe drinking water and sanitation facilities for the entire State except Chennai Metropolitan area, rests with the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board. However, as an exception, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, are engaged in implementing sewerage schemes for Kumbakonam Municipality and Madurai Corporation. This apart, some of the local bodies namely Alandur, Ambattur are implementing sewerage scheme on their own. Low cost sanitation is being implemented by local bodies. The Corporations namely Salem and Coimbatore have initiated steps for implementation of sewerage schemes on their own. Funding pattern Urban sewerage schemes are implemented on grant cum partial l loan basis financed by State Government and financial institutions. In recent times, the Government of India provides grant for implementation of sewerage schemes as a measure of abatement of pollution to the river courses

 Status

In the State, excluding Chennai Corporation, there were 23 towns having a population of more than one lakh. Of these, only 8 towns namely Madurai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Tiruvottiyur, Kancheepuram, Thoothukkudi, and Kumbakonam were provided with sewerage schemes, that too with partial coverage. Apart from this, sewerage systems are in existence in 8 other towns namely Uthagamandalam, Chidambaram, Mannargudi, Periyakulam, Palani, Thirumangalam, Sattur and Labbikudikadu where too the coverage is only partial

 Achievements from 2007-08 onwards

During 11th Five year Plan period, new Under Ground Sewerage schemes in the following towns were taken for execution

	Cuddalore		Chinnamanur
	Namakkal		Thiruvallur
	Ramanathapuram		Perambalur
	Thoothukudi		MM Nagar
	Virudhunagar		Mamallapuram
	Pudukottai		Theni
	Sivagangai		Nagapattinam
	Krishnagiri		Thiruchendur
	Thiruvarur		Ariyalur
	Dhamapuri		Udumalpet
	Thiruvannamalai		Kodaikanal lake conservation
	Villupuram

Towns completed during 2007-2008

Towns completed during 2009-2010 and 2010-2011

 Towns under execution

Expected to be completed during 2011-2012

Expected to be completed during 2012-2013

 Future Programmme class="paragraph">Prioritization of taking UGSS in future, are based on the lessons learnt in the implementation of UGSS over the past 10 years (2000-2010). Based on the past experience following decisions are taken

Selection of Urban Local Bodies

Due to the financial condition of almost all the ULBs has become critical because of the heavy borrowings related to UGSS and due to the limitations of contractual capacity with the same set of contractors taking up multiple UGSS the Board resolved to recommend to Government a self-imposed moratorium for at least 5 years from taking up UGSS in any more new towns, with a review after 5 years as to whether the moratorium should be extended further

If at all UGSS has to be taken up in the coming years, it should be only in the uncovered areas of existing towns where the UGSS is already completed or is under implementation based on the following order of priority

 Corporations whose boundaries have been extended recently

 Other Corporations

 District Headquarters Municipalities, whose boundaries have been extended recently, and which are located on the banks of major rivers

 District Headquarters Municipalities which are located on the banks of major rivers

 Other District Headquarters Municipalities

 Other Municipalities which are located on the banks of major rivers

Avoidance of multiple packages while tendering

Entire Collection System and STP(s) of a proposed UGSS should be clubbed together as a single package and tenders called for in order to attract only competent bidders

Avoidance of simultaneous digging up of roads throughout the town causing hardship to the public

There are 4 broad steps involved in the implementation of the Collection System of a UGSS

 construction of manholes at approximately 30 metre intervals

 digging of trench and laying of sewerline connecting the manholes

 providing house service connections (HSCs) on either side of the road from each manhole, and

 temporary restoration of the roads

Only few roads in a given locality – not contiguous roads but only alternate roads so that traffic is not disrupted – should be taken up at a time, and all the four steps listed above should be completed for these select roads, and only thereafter a new set of roads should be taken

Special care to be taken while digging up Bus route roads and in crowded areas

In order to minimise traffic disruption and hardship to the public, a set of roads or even a full road cannot be taken up at a time in such cases. Only the stretch of such roads between three manholes (about 60 metres) should be taken up at a time, and for this stretch too all the four steps listed in (3) above should be completed before moving on to the next stretch of the road between three manholes

Building the cost of Permanent Road Restoration into the DPRs

The action of digging manholes and trenches for Sewer lines / House service connections leaves a road taken up under UGSS completely destroyed. The Board resolves to recommend to Government that the funds required for the permanent restoration of the roads affected by UGSS should be placed in a separate account at the State level at the disposal of the Commissioner of Municipal Administration, who will release the funds to the concerned ULB/Highways Dept./NHAI for implementation. The permanent restoration need not wait for the UGSS to be fully completed in the town. As and when a set of roads is temporarily restored and handed over to the ULB, the CMA can release the funds for permanent restoration for these roads

Clearances

Tendering process to commence only after getting enter-upon permission and TNPCB clearance for the STP and Pumping Station lands

Administrative sanction should be given for UGSS works only after the sites for STP and Pumping Stations are identified and enter-upon permission obtained from the authorities concerned and TNPCB clearance has been obtained wherever necessary. On no account, should the tenders for UGSS works be called for unless the sites for the STP and Pumping Stations are in actual possession of the Local Body concerned and TNPCB clearances for the site have been obtained

 No tendering before getting CRZ clearance

Where CRZ clearance is required, a ULB should not call for tenders for UGSS unless the CRZ clearance has first been obtained

 Consultation with TNPCB about choice of STP site

A lot of delays occur in getting clearances from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) for the STP works. It is desirable to have the lands selected for STP and Pumping Stations vetted in advance (informally) by the District Environmental Engineer (DEE) Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board so that problems pertaining to Environmental clearances for the sites are avoided at a later stage

 Judicious selection of sites for STPs and Pumping Stations

There have been many instances of works at STP and Pumping Station sites having to be suspended after crores of rupees had been spent due to public agitation about the choice of sites. It is always better to keep the public aware of the location of the STP and Pumping station sites as the problem will not go away but only get postponed if the public objects to the location after the works are commenced. Necessary IEC activity should be taken up and suitable provision should be made in the estimate for this item of work

 Selection of appropriate technology for STP

As land is scarce in every town, modern technology like Activated Sludge Process (ASP), Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) etc., for waste water treatment should be adopted. Waste Stabilisation Ponds (WSP) should not be considered as land requirement is large

 Land use Certificate from ULB

The ULB should obtain appropriate land use certificate for STP site from Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) before completion of the tendering process itself in order avert possible legal challenges

 Avoid Forest Lands

The Forest lands should be avoided for locating STP and Pumping Stations for UGSS. In case of no other alternative, necessary clearances from the Forest Department should be obtained at the time of preparation of DPR itself. In any case, the permission should compulsorily be obtained before calling for tenders

 Need to apply well in advance for road cut permissions from Line Departments

Even while tendering is on, applications for permission for road cuts in National Highways (NH), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), State Highways (SH), Railways, etc., for implementing UGSS should be made and effectively followed up. The practice of applying for road cut permission only when the particular stretch is about to be taken up is wrong and leads to avoidable delays

Realistic provisions to be made in DPRs for cost of land and road cuts

One of the reasons for UGSS projects getting delayed and for repeated proposals being made for Revised Administrative Sanctions is the provision of arbitrary, unrealistic rates in the DPRs towards the cost of land acquisition, road cuts and road restorations, and permissions from Railways authorities. Henceforth, it should be ensured that the correct costs are incorporated in the DPRs on the basis of the actual payments made towards such items in recent schemes and suitably indexing the same

Design Sewer line capacities taking FSI Norms into account

In Corporations and other rapidly growing cities, there is a tendency towar replacement of individual houses/bungalows with multi-storeyed apartment blocks. When this happens, not only the number of house service connections increases but the capacity of the sewer line of the street on which the building is located becomes inadequate. It is therefore important to take into account the notified Floor Space Indices (FSI) for each street/area and design the sewer line capacity assuming the maximum FSI for the street/area

Construction period

The decision about the total time period to be given for construction of UGSS should not be left to the local engineers itself. The construction period should be carefully decided by the Board/implementing agency, primarily based on the length of the streets where the sewer lines are to be laid. In general, the construction period should be between 36-72 months as is prescribed in the CPHEEO guidelines

Trenchless Technology

Trenchless Technology should be used in place of the existing conventional open-trench method for such sections along NH/ NHAI/ SH /Major Municipal Roads, where the sewer line is to be taken along, and no house service connections are there en-route. For example, this technology should be used for laying the pumping mains along such longitudinal sections of the roads where there is no further road cutting involved due to house-service connections. This technology should also be used for all the crossings across NH/NHAI/SH/Major Municipal Roads. This would avoid inconvenience to the public in these critical areas

Compound Walls in STP sites

Once the land is finalized for STP and Pumping Stations, compound walls on the 3 sides should be put up and in the remaining one side, fencing should be put up for movement of machinery and materials. These works should form part of the DPR itself