| File Note: |
Sub: Proceedings of the personal hearing given before the Member Secretary of the Board on 22.12.2025 w.r.t show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 –The Executive Engineer, PWSSB, Division no. 2, Opp. Zila Parshid, Club Road, Ludhiana and the Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Sahnewal located at Village Jandiali, Ludhiana.
The following were present:
On behalf of Punjab Pollution Control Board -
Er. Vijay Kumar, Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-1, Ludhiana
On behalf of Municipal Council:
Sh. Balbir Gill, Executive Officer
On behalf of PWSSB:
Er. Balraj Singh, Executive Engineer
The Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-1, Ludhiana brought out that the Sewage Treatment Plant of 7 MLD capacity based on SBR Technology has been installed by PWSSB, Ludhiana at Sahnewal, Ludhiana for treatment of domestic effluent. The M.C Sahnewal is class-B, Municipal Council.
The effluent sample from outlet of Sewage Treatment Plant was earlier collected on 26.04.2022 and as per analysis result, pH = 7.6, TSS = 32 mg/l against 100 mg/l, COD= 80 mg/l, BOD = 22 mg/l against 30 mg/l and F Coli = 14000 against 1000.As such, the parameter F. Coli is beyond the limits prescribed by the Board. The STP failed to install and connect the OCEMS with Board’s server for the parameters namely pH, TSS, COD, BOD and flow meter till date. The STP operating authority has not uploaded the online effluent monitoring data. The STP has not applied for obtaining consent to operate under Water Act, 1974 till date and has not submitted any irrigation plan for use of treated domestic effluent into irrigation.
The authorities were issued show cause notice for violation of the provisions of Water Act, 1974 with hearing before Chairman of the Board on 07.03.2024, postponed to 15.03.2024, wherein it was decided as under:
1. The PWSSB shall operate the STP regularly and efficiently so as to achieve the prescribed effluent standards on regular basis.
2. The MC shall explore the possibility to utilize the entire treated effluent onto land for plantation and irrigation purposes.
3. The MC/PWSSB shall install OCEMS at the outlet of STP and get it connected at server provided by the Board, immediately.
4. The Municipal Council may also develop the vermicomposting/composting to manage the biodegradable solid waste.
5. The Municipal Council shall immediately comply with the directions issued by CPCB regarding ban on single use plastic items
6. The Executive Engineer, PWSSB/MC shall apply for obtaining fresh consent to operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 alongwith requisite documents and fee, within 15 days.
7. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-1, Ludhiana shall visit the STP after one month and submit the report regarding progress achieved by the authorities
The STP had applied for obtaining fresh consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
The STP is being regularly monitored by the Board and the analysis results of the effluent sample collected on 11.07.2024, 12.08.2024, 10.09.2024 & 16.10.2024 indicated that various parameters were beyond the limits prescribed by the Board for effluent sample collected during the above period.
The STP was disposing off its treated effluent in the drain leading to Buddha Nallah. However, no arrangement has been provided for utilization of treated waste water for irrigation purpose. The Municipal Council has not provided OCEMS system at outlet of Sewage Treatment plant. The Municipal Council has installed cameras but not found connected with the Board's portal. The Municipal Council has stored sludge approx. 8 Ton at site and same is used for in house gardening purpose only.
Further, a team of Joint Group of Central and State Govt. Departments created to address the challenges of pollution in Buddha nallah, Ludhiana visited the STP, Sahnewal on 02.01.2025 and observed that the treated effluent from STP, Sahnewal is being discharged into the Buddha Nallah at village Bhukhri Kalan. The officers from Soil and Water Conservation Department informed that presently there is no scheme prepared for the utilization of treated effluent from this STP for irrigation. However, in compliance of decisions of last meeting of the joint group the department is in process of preparing a scheme and nearby villages are short listed for the same. The officers were advised to submit the scheme to the committee at the earliest.
The authorities of Municipal Council/ PWSSB were issued show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 with hearing before Chairman of the Board on 16.01.2025, wherein it was decided as under:
1. Consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 be granted to the Municipal Council for short period i.e. 6 months.
2. The Municipal Council/PWSSB shall operate the STP regularly and efficiently so as to achieve the prescribed effluent standards on regular basis.
3. The Municipal Council/PWSSB shall install the OCEMS at the outlet of STP connected with server provided by the Board within 15 days.
4. The Municipal Council/PWSSB shall take up matter with Department of Soil and Water Conservation for utilization of treated effluent for irrigation purposes and submit action taken report, within one month.
5. The Municipal Council/PWSSB shall connect the cameras with the Boards server, within 15 days.
6. The Municipal Council/PWSSB shall also develop the facility of vermicomposting of the sewage sludge using earthworms as a value addition step of the sludge management process, in order to utilize the sewage sludge as a better organic manure by the farmers, immediately and Municipal Council shall also explore the possibility of using STP sludge for other purposes.
7. The Director, Local Government is requested to initiate appropriate action against the officials of Municipal Council, Sahnewal w.r.t non-compliance of the provisions of Water Act, 1974 by the STP installed.
8. The Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-1, Ludhiana shall visit the STP, verify various compliances and submit the report regarding progress achieved by the Municipal Council, within 15 days.
The STP was granted short term Fresh Consent to operate for 6 months dated 28.01.2025 upto 27.07.2025 with special conditions as above.
The Municipal Council has now applied for obtaining Renewal Consent to Operate under Water Act, 1974 for treatment of Sewage Water @ 7000 KLD.
The Municipal Council was visited by officer of the Board on 13.10.2025 and observations are as follows:
1. The Sewage Treatment Plant of 7 MLD capacity based on SBR Technology has been installed by Punjab Water Supply & sewerage Board at Sahnewal, Ludhiana and was operational during the visit.
2. As per the analysis results of the effluent sample collected from STP for the month of September, the results of F.coli are beyond the prescribed limits.
3. The treated waste water is discharged into Bhukhri Kalan drain and which further drains into Buddha Nallah. Some of the treated waste water is used for irrigation purpose within the premises of the plant but a substantial portion of it drains into Bhukhri Kalan.
4. The Sewage Treatment plant has installed and operationalized the OCEMS but it has not been connected with the Board’s server. (The readings of the OCEMS during visit are: pH 7.78; BOD 19.4mg/l; TSS 32.8mg/l and COD 53.4).
5. The STP has installed cameras at four points: inlet, outlet, bypass and MPS all of which were non-functional but are connected with the Board's portal.
6. The Municipal Council/ PWSSB has not submitted any concrete proposal of utilization of treated effluent for irrigation in farmlands in coordination with Department of Soil and Water Conservation so as to reduce the discharge of effluents into Buddha nallah with an ultimate aim to stop such discharges permanently into surface water sources.
7. The operator of the STP informed that the sludge generated after drying is utilized in situ within the premises for gardening. However no proposal has been put forward for utilization of sludge for vermicomposting.
8. The STP is not complying with the provisions of the Water Act, 1974. STP failed to comply with PH decisions and CTO conditions.
• The sample results of STP Sahnewal from April 2025 to Oct, 2025 is as under:-
Parameters April, 2025 May, 2025 June, 2025 July, 2025 Aug, 2025 Sept, 2025 Oct, 2025 Prescribed standards
pH 7.7 7.5 8.1 7.3 7.5 8.0 7.4 6.5-8.5
TSS 12 11 BDL 10 12 14 21 <100
BOD 6 6 6 BDL 9 12 8 30
COD - - - - - - - 250
T.Coli - - - - - - - <1000
F.Coli 140 240 92 26 630 1400 24000 <1000
As per the results it is inferred that the STP has failed to achieve the prescribed standards in the months of Sept, 2025 and Oct, 2025.
The Municipal Council is not complying with the decisions of above said personal hearing and conditions of consent to operate granted under the provisions of the Water Act, 1974.
In view of above, the Municipal Council/ PWSSB has been issued show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 with hearing before the Member Secretary of the Board on 24.11.2025 postponed to 22.12.2025.
Sh. Balbir Gill, Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Sahnewal and Er. Balraj Singh, Executive Engineer, PWSSB attended the hearing and submitted the written reply which was taken on record. They informed that the SBR tank was operational and the total cycle time is 4 hours. The PWSSB is maintaining and operating the existing Sewage Treatment Plant regularly and at the time of visit of officer of the Board, the work of cleaning of CCT tank was in the process and samples were taken during cleaning of CCT Tank. For month of October, samples taken were not preserved as per procedural provisions and for the same month, parallel sample has been sent to the PBTI lab & results of those are complying with the PPCB standards. The OCEMS is installed & in working condition and now it is connected with the PPCB server. The CCTV cameras have been repaired and are working properly. The STP site has been shown to the Soil Conservation Department for the planning of utilization of the treated effluent for the irrigation.
They will make efforts for utilization of sludge for vermicomposting.
After hearing the authorities, officer of the Board considering material facts on record, the Member Secretary of the Board decided that:-
1. The Municipal Council/PWSSB shall operate / connect the Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring System (OCEMS) and CCTV cameras with Board's website, within 07 days.
2. The Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-1, Ludhiana shall visit the STP to verify the various compliances made by the STP, record maintained regarding operation of STP, sludge generation and shall submit the flash report within 07 days, so as to decide the consent application.
Submitted for confirmation of decisions of the hearing and for conveying to the Municipal Council and Regional Office for compliance of above decisions, please. |
