INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT IN A METROPOLITAN CITY-KANPUR, INDIA

Abstract

The Indian sub continent is faced with increasing urbanization and a corresponding increase in the generated waste and the uncollected waste. Municipal solid waste management in the current Indian context is a complex problem on account of a number of factors like the limited resources, tendency to imitate the western counterparts for solutions irrespective of the different socio-economic, cultural and technological set up, absence of integration of land use and waste management (one of the infrastructures), low public-private and community participation, neglect of the informal sector engaged in waste recycling, lack of an integrated approach while tackling the waste management, poor implementation of the related legislation, etc. The methods employed usually follow a piecemeal approach and do not deal with the issue of municipal solid waste management in a holistic manner. This study attempts to approach the problem of municipal solid waste management in a metropolitan city in an integrated manner. Kanpur, a dirty and polluted metropolitan North Indian city has been chosen as the study area. The city does not have any data base except for few scanty data pertaining to waste generation. The objectives of the research are clearly stated with the main aim of converting the city into a dust-bin free clean city. Keeping in view the stated objectives, an extensive review of literature was carried out under three broad categories, solid waste management in developed countries, developing countries and India and the various prevalent models used in municipal solid waste management including the use of system dynamics approach for policy modeling. In this investigation, under the given constraints a System Dynamics model is developed to analyse all the six elements of solid waste management by using systems concept. The developed model is composed of several sub-models like, population and density, waste generation, collection, treatment, transportation, disposal, manpower requirements in formal and informal sector, etc. Each sub-model is described in detail through stock and flow diagrams. Various control parameters like socio-economic, environmental, institutional, etc., have been considered for calibration of the model. Field observations, literature survey and discussion with experts have been done to identify the important control parameters. Both primary and secondary sources have been used to fulfill the data requirement. Four largest generators of municipal waste in the study area have been considered for developing the waste generation sub-model, viz., household, industrial, commercial and market activity and hospital. The developed model has been validated and tested followed by long-range projections to understand waste generation by these four major sectors, the amount of waste collected, transported, treated and disposed of by the Authorities, the composite solid waste management efficiency and environmental stress in the overall system in the projected year 2031 A.D and the employment generated in the informal waste recycling sector. New concepts of composite solid waste management efficiency and composite environmental stress have been used to establish the interrelation amongst various system variables. The functions of the system under various alternative conditions have been closely examined by developing various scenarios and tested by employing simulations to arrive at alternative policy decisions. Results for the impact of alternative policy scenarios have been presented for the year 2031 A.D., based on which the optimal policy was selected. A detailed phase-wise municipal solid waste management plan is thereafter prepared for the implementation of the selected optimal policy. General recommendations have also been given based on observations, analysis and discussion with experts. The study concludes with important conclusions and scope for future work.