Issues and Over-all Characteristics of the existing Town Sanitation Facilities

3.7.5 Issues and Over-all Characteristics of the existing Town Sanitation Facilities

Looking in detail the characteristics of the existing town sanitation facilities pose certain constraints, yet, offer certain potentials that need to be looked into and addressed for the betterment of the existing level of sanitation facilities in the town. Some of those could be summarized as below.

The current network does not cover the entire area of the Municipal limit. The existing settlements in the extended areas are scattered in small numbers all over the town. So, in most cases, new networks covering the whole of the Urban Village area would have to be planned. At present, some of the extended areas are covered by Rural Water Supply Schemes, which do not have basic water treatment mechanisms, as a part of their network. This has resulted in a situation where the quality of water supplied throughout the town is not uniform due to the inherent differences in the kinds of networks in use. Hence, the establishment of a uniform, basic treatment mechanism would have to be devised for the proposed system.

In the absence of any metering system in certain areas of the town, billing for the services being provided poses difficulties. Strengthening the existing networks in some of the areas might prove to be difficult, owing to the lack of sufficient capacity in the existing infrastructure to be upgraded to a network covering the whole of the Urban Village area. This would mean discarding a few existing networks at the time of planning new ones.

One may take a strong stand that planned LAP’s will have one hundred percent potable water coverage, with meters, to encourage development within these designated Urban Villages.

Blockage of existing natural storm water drains and flooding during rainy season in certain parts of the town are the two important issues which need due consideration in the planning process. Blockage of drains causes stagnation of water that result in the prevalence of unhygienic and unhealthy conditions. As mentioned earlier the blockages are caused by:

Disposal of household refuse and other solid wastes like polythene bags in the drains,
Storage of construction materials on sites, obstructing the natural drainage pattern,
Insufficiently sized closed conduit, drains serving the plots,
Mixing of discharge from septic tanks and soak pits into storm water,
Inadequate provision of screens and culverts at crossings of drains and roads; and,
Siltation of both closed conduits and open drains due to poor maintenance and insufficient gradients.

These issues are addressed in the Structure Plan, by reserving right-of-ways for natural storm water drains.

Again, priority for enhanced storm water drainage should be in the jurisdictions of the LAP’s to encourage densification.

Review of the existing situation, of proposals in the pipeline for the construction of a new sewerage system in the town, and of the development trends of Gelephu town raise issues with respect to the broad objective of servicing the entire urban population with an efficient sewerage disposal system.

The proposed scheme is not adequate to serve even the current population concentration areas within the Municipal Corporation boundaries. Even after implementation of the proposed sewerage system a little more than half of the existing population will be served with a sewer connection. To provide sewer connections to the entire population of the town as well as to meet the requirements posed by future population growth is the preliminary issue of sewerage management in Gelephu.

Though, it would not be relevant at this stage to implement a sewerage system for the entire town, due to economic and operational constrains, it is necessary that the new system should be designed considering the future population growth of the town. The selection of a sewerage treatment plant also needs due consideration given the climatic and humidity conditions of the town. The relative flat topography of the town needs a carefully study during the layout of the sewer network system. New technologies and options, like de-centralized treatment of the sewerage, could also be studied in terms of economic and operational efficiency. While, implementation of a full-fledged sewerage system for the entire town will be a long-term project, the option of private and community based septic tanks with adequate cleaning and maintenance facilities needs to be studied as a short term measure.

Development of sewerage management master plan, with an extensive sewer network, new treatment plant and pumping stations will be a capital and recurring cost intensive initiative. Tying up the finances, transferring some component of the operating cost to the users, prioritization and phasing of the implementation are some of the components, which will require critical consideration during the design of a new sewerage management system for Gelephu. Planning for one hundred percent coverage of all built-up and open plots in the two LAP’s, again will direct development toward a more compact and efficient system.

The current system of solid waste collection is well managed to a large extent by GMC. One of the major issues is the lack of proper disposal system of the collected solid wastes from the town. As mentioned earlier, the solid waste is disposed on open grounds and in river beds, resulting in health problems and flood risks during rainy seasons. Identifying a safe and hygienic disposal system of solid waste generated in the town should be given immediate consideration. Most of the areas in the extended municipal limit are not covered by the present solid waste management system adopted in the town.

The current solid waste disposal system does not aim at reducing the load carried to the disposal site, through a system of segregating the solid waste at the source itself. This generates the need for larger capacity disposal systems and increases solid waste transportation costs. Almost one quarter of the total solid waste collected from commercial and institutional areas is plastics, bottles, papers, cardboards, tin, aluminum products and bamboo baskets. These wastes can be segregated at the source itself, which can then be recycled and reused, thus reducing the volume of solid waste carried to the disposal site. Other major fractions of solid waste carried to the disposal site are the organic wastes, which can be treated by simple composting. Innovative natural treatment process can be adopted to disintegrate the biodegradable wastes, thus reducing the volume of solid waste transported to the disposal site.

The wastes generated by construction sites are to be separated and disposed of in an appropriate manner. The existing open concrete litterbins at residential areas have caused problems as waste from the open bins is littered on to the surrounding areas by stray dogs. Public awareness on the issues related to solid waste and its problems should be created among the residents community of Gelephu town.

In conclusion the link between the Local Area Plans and public health engineering layouts, priorities and user-fees can not be over emphasized. Compact pipe, drainage and conduit networks increase the number of tax payers per hundred meters of utilities, and lower the costs per capita, making the systems more cost effective. Locating these compact public health engineering systems within the LAP’s will focus investment, making roads, sidewalks and street lighting more cost-effective also.