The Greater Cochin Development Authority will open the sewage treatment plant at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor, to treat sewage generated beyond the stadium premises. Operations will be scaled up to the full installed capacity of 750 kilolitres per day (KLD). The move followed observations by the National Green Tribunal that the GCDA’s intervention was necessary in the Corporation’s waste management and both bodies were made parties to the case, after which the GCDA decided to utilise the STP for outside waste.

The plant is expected to become fully operational shortly and the GCDA said residents would be taken into confidence. Awareness campaigns will be launched to stress the importance of proper sewage treatment in reducing health risks and ensuring a cleaner environment for future generations. Officials indicated that public engagement would be central to the success of the expanded operations.

A technical committee headed by the District Collector and comprising representatives of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Suchitwa Mission, the Corporation secretary, the GCDA secretary, the Kerala Water Authority and university experts approved a detailed proposal which later received government sanction. Officials said hundreds of thousands of Rs had earlier been spent annually on maintaining the plant and that operating it at full capacity would eliminate maintenance costs and generate assured revenue through load-based charges for sewage brought from outside.

Kochi is estimated to generate 82 million (mn) litres per day of sewage, comprising toilet, kitchen and bath effluents, and at present only three to six per cent of this is treated, leaving 90 to 95 per cent of liquid waste to flow untreated into the surroundings. While the stadium plant can treat less than one per cent of the city’s sewage the GCDA considers it a significant contribution. Treatment capacity will need to be scaled up to 105 million (mn) litres per day in keeping with the city’s projected population by 2041 and to 150-200 mn litres per day in the longer term, and the GCDA said it would continue to expand facilities, including through public-private partnerships, and urged full public cooperation in viewing waste management as a shared responsibility.