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Wastewater management and the east-bound growth of the city of Kolkata: a compatibility analysis

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Abstract

Kolkata, home of 4.5 million people, is generating 1112 million liters of sewage per day and facing the challenge of managing this wastewater. The 125 km2 wide wetland on the eastern fringe of the city, popularly known as the East Kolkata Wetlands is serving as a natural sewage treatment plant for more than a century where nearly 78 % of city sewage goes through an intricately designed canal network. This wetland is a designated RAMSAR site where the sewage treatment process is a rare example of an intertwined symbiotic relation between wastewater treatment and wetland aquaculture, where livelihood dependence of the local people on sewage-fed fisheries becomes of strategic importance in sustainable performance of the system. An aggressive urban expansion in the eastern fringe of the city is disturbing this age-old eco-balance by making this sewage water pisciculture less profitable. There is push factor due to reduced attraction of the wastewater fisheries and a pull factor due to emergence of alternative livelihood options through rapid urbanization. To protect wetland in its original form, the civil society and the administrative authorities are designing active interventions. However, these are not generating expected results as these instruments are targeting to mitigate the push factor only without paying much heed to the push–pull interactions.

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Fig. 1

Source: Dey and Banerjee (2016b)

Fig. 2
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Source: authors

Fig. 4

Source: primary survey

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Source: primary survey

Fig. 6

Source: primary survey

Fig. 7

Source: Dey and Banerjee (2015)

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Notes

  1. The first formal record of academic experiments of wastewater treatment via wetland plants was done by Käthe Seidel at the Max Planck Institute in Plön, Germany in 1950s. In North America, Free Water Surface (FWS) Constructed Wetlands (CW) started with the ecological engineering of natural wetlands for wastewater treatment in late 1960s and beginning of the 1970s for treating all kinds of wastewater including municipal and industrial sewage (Vymazal 2010). Efforts have been made to use this wetland treated water for floriculture in Ocotlán, Jalisco, Mexico and in crop production in Italy because of their simple technology and minimal cost (Zurita et al. 2009; Morari and Giardini 2009).

  2. IWMED was established in March, 1986 with the primary objective of carrying out studies related to wetland functions and its ecology. The institute is presently known as Institute of Environmental Studies and Wetland Management (IESWM).

  3. Mouza is the administrative unit almost equivalent to a village. Division of EKW into 32 mouzas was reported in 2001 population census. However, with the change in population density, this number may change over time.

  4. This core-buffer division is specified in a map prepared by the Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal in 2001 and the classification is done in terms of area coverage under water in each mouza. In the core area more than 10 % land is covered under water with a minimum coverage of 1 km2. The remaining area, surrounding the core one is called the buffer area.

  5. Since no up-to-date reliable land record is available anywhere, a project has been commissioned under the Rajiv Gandhi Chair of the University of Calcutta in 2010 under which a land-use map has been prepared by the PAN Network by applying GIS technique. This project documented existing land use pattern and by comparing it with the previous one the major changes also have been identified.

  6. 19 mouzas in all.

  7. August–September is the monsoon months represent peak production season for pisciculture.

  8. Assuming USD 1 = Rs. 60.

  9. If the cost estimate is carried out for 60 % capacity utilization then the total treatment cost would be Rs. 5410 million per year and for 90 % capacity utilization it would be Rs. 4193 million per year.

  10. Calcutta is the erstwhile name of the city of Kolkata.

  11. Subsequently it gained the status of an Act.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Calcutta, 56A, B.T. Road, Kolkata, 700050, India

    Debanjana Dey & Sarmila Banerjee

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  1. Debanjana Dey
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  2. Sarmila Banerjee
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Correspondence to Debanjana Dey.

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Dey, D., Banerjee, S. Wastewater management and the east-bound growth of the city of Kolkata: a compatibility analysis. Environ Dev Sustain 19, 1911–1932 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9835-2

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