According to a news report, WASA will soon begin work on the country’s largest wastewater treatment plant, the Babu Sabu Wastewater Treatment Plant (BSWTP) of Lahore, which has been approved recently by ECNEC.
The BSWTP, which would have the capacity to treat or recycle 88 million gallons of wastewater per day, would be completed with the support of the French Development Agency at a projected cost of Rs52 billion. It would help protect the Ravi River and help boost Lahore’s declining groundwater levels. Fair enough! Lahore WASA has also designed a grand new trunk sewer as per the City’s Master Plan at a cost of Rs49 billion.
It is hoped that these projects will be completed on a war footing in the two to three years. Indeed, ‘waste water recycling’ is the norm in London and other advanced cities. The recycled water can be utilised for a host of reasons and purposes with the exception of drinking and cooking. Sooner or later, we have to go down this path full throttle.
Abbas R Siddiqi
Lahore
