THE concept of common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) was pushed by former environment minister Maneka Gandhi. But 5 years and vast sums of money down the line, CETPs seem to have become just another attractive official solution that never took off.

The idea was to enable cash-strapped small-scale industries, which were seen as the major polluters, to treat their effluents. The government agreed to fund part of the project and also sought assistance from agencies like the World Bank.

One of the first areas in which a CETP was installed was the Thane-Belapur industrial belt near Bombay. The bulk of the 1,180 member industries in this belt is in the small or medium scale, utilising a wide range of hazardous inputs and generating wastes. Effluents would be carried in sewer lines from the factories to the CETP and then released into the Thane Creek. The operating costs of the plant would be shared by the units, depending on the effluents and paying capacity.

An Environment Foundation was formed by the Thane-Belapur Industrial Association and the Small-Scale Entrepreneurs' Association of the area and for 3 months, samples of inputs and effluents were collected from all the units for analysis.

However, the plant ran into rough weather almost straightaway. Costs were hiked up from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and user industries were reluctant to pay up. Industry spokespersons said their members had problems raising "that kind of money" but officials in the environment department insisted that industry wanted a free ride.

Then, there were technical problems. The CETP was not geared to handle frequent variations in effluent contents caused by the small units changing their product mix to meet demand. Most industries, having paid up their share, were reluctant to carry out primary treatment of the effluents to bring them down to a load that CETP could handle.

The most serious problem, however, is the disposal of the solid waste generated by the CETP. An incinerator was envisaged to dispose of the waste, but it is still hanging fire. Meanwhile, the waste still flows on into the creek. Back to square one?