AURANGABAD: A large amount of untreated sewerage and effluent is flowing from the city through the River Kham into the Jayakwadi reservoir. Activists said that the water needs to be processed before it is released into the river.Activist Vilas Jagdale claimed that the sewage flowing from the city is contaminating the River Kham. “The River Kham is flowing from Aurangabad and later gets connected to the Nath Sagar in Jayakwadi. The apathetic management of the AMC, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the industries is threatening the health of the people,” said Jagdale, who is also a homeopathic practitioner.Environment activist Kishor Pathak said that this river flows to Brahmagavhan, Mawasgaon and joins the backwater of Nath Sagar, the reservoir of the Jayakwadi dam “This river, which has turned into a nullah, has household sewerage and industrial effluent. It is extremely harmful for human consumption or even farming. However, one can see people from across the path of the Kham River using that water for farming. The chemicals released from industries have carcinogenic properties, which require proper scientific steps for treatment. This is not happening,” Jagdale said.Pathak said that the crops or vegetables grown using the water from the nullah can be harmful to health. “Steps are not being taken either to stop people from using the water for farming or to treat it,” he said.When asked about the issue, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) city engineer Sakharam Panzade said that the sewage from Waluj and effluent from industries in Waluj MIDC is polluting the water.He also added that the people who have their farms on both sides of the nullah are pumping water for farming throughout the length of the nullah. “Not a single drop of the nullah remains by the time it reaches the Nath Sagar,” Panzade said.He added that the AMC ensures that all of the sewage water from the city is pumped from the banks of the Kham river and treated at the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Kanchanwadi. “The water is only released into the nullah after treatment,” Panzade said.An MIDC official said that similar to all industrial estates in the state, a central effluent treatment (CETP) has been set up at Waluj MIDC. “We have provided the treatment facility but if some industries do not connect to the CETP, we cannot keep a check on it and since it is a vast industrial estate.The Aurangabad city pumps 156 million litres of water per day from Jayakwadi, purifies it at water treatment plant at Pharola. The water is then supplied to the entire city as drinking water.

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