A high-level Telangana delegation is in South Korea this week inspecting a 250 MLD underground sewage treatment plant in Gwangmyeong, with the city-state visit aimed at identifying technologies the Indian state could adopt for its Musi river rejuvenation project (NewsMeter). The team, sent to Seoul on the directions of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, will return with a feasibility report for the state government.
Key takeaways
- A Telangana delegation is studying a 250 MLD underground sewage treatment plant in Gwangmyeong, South Korea (NewsMeter).
- The underground design frees the surface for parks, playgrounds and sports facilities, reducing land take and odour exposure for nearby residents (NewsMeter).
- Officials examined the plant's automated tertiary treatment, odour-control systems, biogas-to-power generation and environmentally sustainable sludge management (NewsMeter).
- The itinerary also covers the Cheonggyecheon urban river restoration, the Anyang Public STP, the Han River corridor, and the Godeok Public Wastewater Treatment Plant in Pyeongtaek (NewsMeter).
- The team will meet the Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation (KIND) and prepare a comprehensive report on technical feasibility for Musi (NewsMeter).
What happened
Gwangmyeong plant inspection
In a report published 3 September 2026, NewsMeter said the delegation — comprising Water Board MD K. Ashok Reddy, MRDCL MD E.V. Narasimha Reddy, Water Board CGM M. Sujatha, DGM J. Shiva and MRDCL EE Zakir Hussain — flew to Seoul on the directions of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to study urban sewage, wastewater reuse and river-rejuvenation technologies (NewsMeter). On Wednesday the team inspected a 250 million litres per day underground sewage treatment plant in Gwangmyeong, focusing on the plant's automated tertiary treatment train, odour-control systems, and operations (NewsMeter).
Officials also examined how the plant uses biogas to generate electricity and the site's approach to environmentally sustainable sludge management (NewsMeter). Burying a 250 MLD facility eliminates the surface footprint that an equivalent above-ground works would require, leaving the deck free for parks, playgrounds and sports facilities — and moving noisy or odorous process stages away from residential receptors (NewsMeter).
Cheonggyecheon and forward agenda
The delegation also walked the Cheonggyecheon urban river restoration in Seoul, studying water-quality improvements, wetland and habitat recovery, nature-based solutions, flood-resilient infrastructure and the long-term maintenance of riverfront public space (NewsMeter). Still to come on the itinerary are the Anyang Public Sewage Treatment Plant, the Han River corridor in Seoul, and the Godeok Public Wastewater Treatment Plant in Pyeongtaek, plus a high-level meeting with the Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation (KIND) (NewsMeter).
On return, the officials will prepare a comprehensive report for the Telangana government on the feasibility of adopting the technologies and the technical measures needed to deploy them within the Musi rejuvenation programme (NewsMeter).
Specification read
The reported headline capacity is 250 MLD, which converts to 250,000 m³/day, or roughly 1.25 million population equivalent at the commonly used 200 litres per capita per day domestic design allowance (general industry range, not from the sources). For a plant in this class the conventional treatment train runs screening and grit removal → primary clarification → biological secondary treatment (typically A2O, MBBR, SBR or MBR, with UASB where sewage is strong) → tertiary polishing (filtration, nutrient removal) → disinfection, with biogas capture and CHP for sludge-to-power, DAF for sludge thickening, and reuse polishing such as RO where recycled water is discharged to a river or supplied to industry. The Gwangmyeong visit bears most directly on three stages: the automated tertiary train, the odour-control envelope that has to contain a fully buried works, and the biogas-to-electricity plus sludge management chain. If your plant handles on the order of 100,000–300,000 m³/day of mixed municipal sewage, faces tight residential buffer distances, and is being scoped for either surface-land scarcity or river-water-quality compliance, an underground layout with covered process tanks, forced-air odour treatment and on-site CHP is the configuration worth benchmarking against this reference, with a procurement line for covered Integrated Sewage Treatment skids, packaged Disinfection Equipment sized to the tertiary outlet, and the Municipal supply chain needed to land it. For context on how DAF compares with conventional clarifiers in high-solids service, see this DAF vs Clarifier for Mining Wastewater factory guide; for the reuse end of the train, the RO Desalination System spec and buyer's guide covers polishing-membrane selection and supplier qualification.
FAQ
What is the capacity of the underground STP Telangana is studying?
The reported capacity is 250 MLD, or 250,000 m³/day, based on the Gwangmyeong plant inspected by the delegation (NewsMeter).
What technology stages did the delegation focus on at Gwangmyeong?
Officials examined the plant's automated tertiary treatment process, odour-control systems, biogas-to-electricity generation and environmentally sustainable sludge management (NewsMeter).
What is the likely order-of-magnitude capital cost for a 250 MLD underground STP?
The sources do not report a cost figure. A buried 250 MLD municipal works in this class typically sits in a multi-hundred-million-USD band once civil works, odour containment, CHP and reuse polishing are included (general industry range, not from the sources). Buyers should expect underground construction to add a meaningful premium over an equivalent open-site plant.
What is the next step after the study tour?
Officials will prepare a comprehensive report for the Telangana government on the feasibility of adopting the technologies and the technical measures required for their implementation, with a high-level meeting with KIND also on the agenda (NewsMeter).
