A recent decision by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) for revising the norms of sewage disposal into the sea or any water body is expected to bring relief to Mumbai's seas as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The revised norms are likely to encourage BMC's long-pending sewage disposal projects to see the light of day. Under the Mumbai Sewerage Disposal Project (MSDP)-2, the civic body had planned to construct and upgrade Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) at Colaba, Worli, Dharavi, Bandra, Bhandup, Ghatkopar and Malad for treating waste water to the level where it can be reused. According to the civic body, Mumbai generates about 2,100 million litres of sewage daily, of which half is discharged into the sea being treated. The rest is treated at the primary level at the six existing STPs.

File picture of a sewage plant in the city, for representational purposes only