Over 2000 MT garbage lifted as part of cleaning Wah Umkhrah

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 20, 2022

Over 2000 metric tons of garbage has been lifted from the Wah Umkhrah so far.

This is part of the cleaning and rejuvenation of the Wah Umkhrah through the Shillong Municipal Board. The work that is in progress right now is an attempt to achieve this objective, Urban Affairs Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar said here. 

“The work includes dredging at certain stretches where there has been massive accumulation of garbage over the years, and as on date about 2000 metric of garbage has been lifted and disposed in the sanitary landfill at Marten,”he said.

This dredging had been carried on over 2.5 kilometers stretch of the river. 

To prevent further littering throughout the stretch of the river, stone bunds are to be created at certain points in the river as part of the project, he said. 

The objective of creation of these bunds is twofold – to arrest the floating garbage, if any, at easily accessible point in the river for clearing and collection and to make the river more aesthetic by having natural concrete check dams, Dhar said.

Besides these bunds which are just about 1.00 to 1.50 meters high will not interfere with the flow of the river and the apprehension of the bunds causing possible flood situation shall not arise. 

At one location, which is at the Idol immersion ghat, and at the outfalls of the tributaries to the river, solid waste traps shall be installed to prevent the same from flowing and accumulating all through the river. 

“These works have been funded through the Finance Commission Award at an estimated cost of Rs 3.60 crore,” the minister said.

In addition, under Amrut, 4 Effluent Treatment Plants will be set up at the outfalls, 4 tributaries of the Wah Umkhrah and 1 tributary of Umshyrpi to further improve the water quality of the river, the ETPs are meant to treat the water in the selected drains before it is discharged into the river, he informed.

Further under Smart Cities Mission, Dhar said another 5 drains shall be treated using Bio-remediation technology. Through this technology, which does not require chemical treatment, which is therefore environmental friendly, the parameters of the water quality shall be brought to permissible standards before discharging the same into the Wah Umkhrah. 

Along with the above works, the Shillong Municipal Board is also strengthening its waste management system, through awareness campaigns, improvement in the collection efficiency, improvement in the level of segregation at source, addition of newer equipment with up-to-date technology to bring more efficiency in cleaning of drains and roads and efforts are being steeped up to prevent haphazard disposal of solid waste in the Umkhrah and Umshyrpi and into the drains and streams flowing into the rivers. These efforts also include the eradication of direct discharge of sewage into the river and their tributaries, he said.

As a matter of fact, the works for cleaning the river had been taken up by the Shillong Municipal Board since 2019 but the same could not continue on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

During that period, besides the physical cleaning in the river, about 1.3 km stretch of Wah Umkhrah was also fenced to prevent dumping of garbage into the river. 

A total of about 780 meters of fencing was also taken up at 12 garbage vulnerable points of the Umshyrpi and at the major tributaries of the two rivers, he further stated.