Electrification in Sagar Island

Sagar Island is also known as ‘Gangasagar’ in commoner’s parlance is one of the populous islands that fall under the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve at the State of West Bengal in India. Despite the age-old religious and cultural connotations, the island’s socio-economic growth was contained to a certain extent due to non-availability of Grid Electricity. Islanders had to depend primarily on energy supplied in an intermittent manner through solar photovoltaic cells, diesel generator sets, kerosene, and fuelwood. The Situation in Sagar Island had started changing dramatically from 2012 onwards with the rolling out of 100% Electrification programme under ICZMP. The intervention has been piloted by WBSEDCL.

ICZM Project has financed the stringing of 384 circuit km of HT line and 835.238 Circuit km LT line, erection of 30,466 Poles and installation of 595 distribution transformers. The extent of service improvement provided by WBSEDCL with regard to electrification is noted below:-

Resonance of Grid Electricity shall be viewed in a kaleidoscopic manner as it turned out to be the harbinger for spurting of multiple socio-economic activities in Sagar Island.

Successful implementation of the Electrification programme has a direct impact on pollution containment. DG sets were employed previously by WBSEDCL for providing power in Sagar Island for a brief span of time before the initiation of the project. Annual consumption of diesel for running the DG sets was 210 KL and estimated 5,67,000 kg of Carbon dioxide was emitted to the atmosphere along with other harmful gases e.g. CH4, SO2, NOx. Hence with phasing out of DG sets and kerosene lamps environment has improved.

Healthcare facilities in Sagar Island also improved due to grid electricity with the creation of facilities like blood transfusion unit, pathological laboratories along with an introduction of several electric fed machines used for the treatment of patients. Enhanced quality had been achieved in the operative & invasive medical treatment of patients. Drug stores now have refrigerators which enhances drug inventory capacity of the Island.

Many of the schools have introduced computer education with the introduction of grid electricity. Senior students can now use physics laboratories equipped with electricity fed devices. Vocational training courses on mobile repairing also introduced in some schools in tandem with electrification. Classrooms are comfortable in summers with an introduction of electric fans. Students can study in the evening for a longer time with the aid of electric lights. Electric pump based water supply has contributed in augmentation of drinking water supply and sanitation condition in the schools.

Electric fed pumped water supply both are now available at the household level. Quality of life has improved with the introduction of household appliances like TV, Freeze, Air Condition machines etc. Women feel safe to travel in the evening with increasing span of street lighting in Sagar Island.

Electrification has also promoted SME sector as a number of small-scale grill factories, paddy husking units, extraction of flour from an oil processing units, handicrafts on conch shells etc are coming up. Marketplaces even in remote places of Sagar Island do continue their businesses even at the late evening hours.

Management of pilgrims during Ganga Saga Mela has become easier and efficient by way of provisioning of street lighting and improved public address systems.

Grid Electricity in Sagar Island has proved beyond doubt that it was not only a demand-driven project initiative whence it was conceived but in real terms, it is a game-changer that accelerates the pace of sustainable development with opening up of newer opportunities for enhancement of livelihood and quality of life.

Technologies for Coastal Pollution Abatement

Background

Government of India (GoI) approached the World Bank for assistance in formulating a strategy for environmental protection of coastal zones of India and subsequently GoI conceived the Project of “Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project” (ICZMP) and as part of pilot investments these projects were taken up initially for the states of Gujarat, Odisha, and West Bengal. ICZMP was the outcome of the mandate for sustainable development and coastal region conservation in the year 2005 backed by the Supreme Court judgment for protection of coastal recourses/maritime bio-diversity. The project has been implemented by Jamnagar Municipal Corporation with the technical inputs from the SPMU of ICZMP Gujarat i.e. Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC).

Goal

Development of Underground Sewerage System for the area under Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (Jamnagar City including Jamnagar Urban Development Authority) for the conservation and management of coastal and marine biodiversity.

Objectives

• Establishment of an efficient underground sewerage system in Jamnagar to minimize the impact of untreated sewage disposal on the coastal and marine environment thus leading to the conservation of coastal biodiversities such as corals and mangroves.
• Establishment of 70 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant.

Benefits

• Conservation of marine life with better management of sewage.
• Rejuvenation of marine species seagrass and corals which were long lost due to the dumping of untreated sewage.
• Better management and conservation of marine biodiversity.
• Reduced chances of contamination of the groundwater and in the water supply pipelines leading to reduced incidence of diseases, improved health condition.
• Economic benefits to farmers by usage of treated sewage water for irrigation purposes and dried sludge as manure.
• Generation of permanent employment at STP site.

The Project at a Glance

Implementing Agencies

Formal Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) and SPMU-GEC under Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project on 12th April 2010 and selected JMC as Project Executive Agency (PEA) to implement and manage the project under ICZMP. For the implementation of the Sewerage Components for Jamnagar City GEC-SPMU-JMC appointed Mott MacDonald Pvt. Ltd as Project Management Consultants (PMC).

70 MLD Capacity Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) – Design; Build; Operate and Transfer (DBOT)

The Committee, as a part of its proceedings, had concluded & recommended that the bid submitted by M/s. Essar Projects (India) Ltd /Thermax Limited–JV was lowest evaluated substantially responsive bid with price standing Rs, 78 crores. This included O & M for initial 2 years and for 13years post Operation & Management, the operator shall pay Rs 2 crore as the premium to JMC through the sale of treated water as part of bid criteria.

The process technology and treatment method were adopted by Essar-Xylem who proposed SBR-ICEAS method of secondary treatment of wastewater.

Process Treatment Scheme

Construction of the plant along with the trial run, testing, & commissioning was successfully completed by the Operator on 31st August 2016. During the trial run, testing & commissioning period the plant was tested for live load test for all units, and all the minor issues related to operations were attended for all Electro-Mechanical & Instrumentation units installed, regular servicing and calibration was done for all types of equipment on need basis during this plant performance /commissioning period. Laboratory was established during this period with Lab chemist/plant manager, and all the types of equipment required for testing the water quality parameters (as per bid requirement) were set up after calibration of all types of equipment put in use at Lab.

Health Benefits

Data shows that there is a clear decline in the cases of malaria, dengue and chikungunya as well as diarrhea/vomiting, cholera, jaundice, and typhoid over the period from 2011 to 2016

Lessons Learnt

This was the first integrated sewage infrastructure project in the Coastal region of Saurashtra. Implementation of this project was certainly a big challenge to all who were involved in the execution of this project. During the project execution, various issues/ problems surfaced especially with regard to field conditions, non-performance of the contractors as per schedule and delay in getting permissions from other Government Departments and were solved. These issues got handled adequately but on certain additional ‘time’. These issues could be well be summarised as ‘Lesson Learnt’ so that during execution of similar projects by JMC as well as other similar authorities elsewhere could avoid additional ‘time & cost’ in future.