Rourkela: Work on the municipal corporation's sewage treatment plant and the effluent treatment plant of Rourkela Steel Plant is going on in full swing.

In order to keep the Brahmani river clean, two separate plants are being constructed to treat wastewater before being discharged into it. The State Pollution Control Board is keeping an eye on both the projects, following an order of the Supreme Court.

At this point, wastewater from Rourkela flows directly into the river.

"We are constructing the sewerage treatment plant near Balughat and work is now going on at a very fast pace," executive engineer of the sewerage board K.K. Ghadei told The Telegraph and added that the project would be completed by the first half of 2020.

"Both this sewerage treatment plant and the one at Koel Nagar are part of the Rs 340 crore underground sewage system being implemented here," said Ghadei.

The project is yet to pick up at Koel Nagar though. "We are yet to get the desired land at Koel Nagar from Rourkela Steel Plant for the third sewage treatment project," said Ghadei, adding that the though the handing over of the said land has received the SAIL corporate board's approval, the is struck at the steel ministry. "This is why we are unable to start the project."

The State Pollution Control Board has already drawn attention of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation in this regard. Regional officer of the board Hemendra Nath Nayak said: "We are in discussion with them and they are working on it at Balughat at this moment."

An affluent treatment plant is being built on the Rourkela Steel Plant premises near the new hot strip mill. Water pumped from the natural oxidation plant near Deogaon will be processed at this facility. Nayak said the Rourkela Steel Plant had effluent treatment plants at all of its individual units where water was recycled and used inside the plant. Extra water is released into the lagoon.

"Rourkela Steel Plant will not get any extra water from the river Brahmani. The order is to recycle and reuse," he said.

Sources at steel plant also confirmed that a pumping station was coming up at Deogaon.