Nepal's Department of Industry has told factories along the Sirsiya River in the Bara–Parsa industrial corridor to stop discharging untreated effluent and to bring their operations into line with environmental standards, according to a 2 September (2080 BS) report from the department's Director General, Jitendra Basnet, speaking to industrialists on the river. Ratopati
The same day, Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Gauri Kumari set a one-week deadline for the same group of plants, warning that a ministry inspection team will visit next week and that legal action will follow against any industry found violating the Environmental Protection Act. Ratopati
Key takeaways
- Director General Jitendra Basnet directed Sirsiya River polluters to fully comply with environmental standards and the conditions accepted at industry registration. Ratopati
- Small and large industries were told to build Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs), individually or jointly, as recommended by the study report carried out in 2080 BS. Ratopati
- Minister Gauri Kumari gave industrialists one week to start remedial work, after which a special ministry team will inspect the Simra and Birgunj sites. Ratopati
- Dozens of industries in Simra and Birgunj have been discharging sewage and industrial waste directly into the Sirsiya, affecting residents across Bara and Parsa districts. Ratopati
- Director General Basnet told industrialists: "It is the mandatory duty of all to comply with the conditions accepted during industry registration and the provisions mentioned in the initial environmental examination report." Ratopati
What happened
On 2 September, the Department of Industry met industrialists and businessmen around the Sirsiya River to address a pollution problem the report says has persisted for about a decade. Ratopati Director General Basnet framed compliance as a shared responsibility of state and industry, and pointed to the 2080 BS study report that already recommended individual or collective ETPs for small and large units. Ratopati He added: "Now there is a challenge for everyone to improve from their respective sides to solve this problem." Ratopati
On the same day, Minister Gauri Kumari held a separate meeting at the ministry with industrialists from the Bara–Parsa corridor and said the long-running pollution of the Sirsiya had created a serious crisis for local life, animal husbandry and human health, citing the Environmental Protection Act. Ratopati Addressing the industrialists, she said: "You have one week, start whatever improvements are needed from today." Ratopati She added: "Despite repeated warnings from relevant state bodies, no improvement has been seen so far." Ratopati
The minister said a special team from the ministry will conduct an on-site inspection next week, after which the process defined under the rules will be initiated. Ratopati The department, for its part, said it will strictly control the direct discharge of waste into the river and will not tolerate non-compliance. Ratopati Local residents in villages including Simra, Mahuli, Sirsiya, Tajpur, Ramgadhawa, Ramvan, Ashok Batika and Bindhyabasini have pressed for the river's revival, which the sources describe as the "lifeline" of the region. Ratopati
Specification read
The reported scale is a group of dozens of small and large industries clustered in the Simra and Birgunj stretch of the Sirsiya River, with the Department of Industry explicitly requiring ETP installation either individually or collectively. Ratopati The sources do not publish a combined discharge figure in MLD, so the buyer-side flow band for a typical small-industry cluster ETP feeding mixed sewage and industrial effluent in this class of project is roughly 0.1–5 MLD per site, or 100–5,000 m³/day (general industry range, not from the sources). For a mixed corridor of dozens of plants, a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) would normally handle the aggregated load; per-plant design flows in the 50–500 m³/day range are typical for the small-capital end the director general described (general industry range, not from the sources).
The required treatment train for a river-discharge compliance project of this type runs: screening and grit removal → flow/load equalisation → primary clarification or DAF for oils and suspended solids → biological stage (typically an activated sludge variant such as SBR, MBBR, MBR or A2O, or a UASB for high-strength streams) → tertiary polishing (filtration, optional DAF) → disinfection before the treated stream reaches the receiving river. This event bears on the primary, biological and tertiary stages simultaneously, because the regulator is targeting direct discharge of untreated sewage and industrial waste, which is exactly the load those three stages are sized to remove.
For operators: if your plant sits in the Bara–Parsa corridor or any similar mixed industrial catchment and you are discharging untreated or partially treated effluent of a few hundred to a few thousand m³/day with BOD in the typical 200–800 mg/L range and suspended solids above 100 mg/L (general industry range, not from the sources), this directive is the trigger to scope an ETP or CETP upgrade now, because the announced inspection team and the statutory one-week window are the compliance pressure points.
Plants scoping this work should look at packaged Integrated Sewage Treatment skids for small-flow sites and at Municipal CETP configurations for corridor-scale aggregation. Related reference designs are discussed in our DAF vs Clarifier for Mining Wastewater in Fairbanks, 2026 and DAF vs Clarifier for Mining/Metals Wastewater in Zahl, ND, 2026 buyer's guides, where the same primary-stage choice applies to mixed industrial streams.
FAQ
What flow rate (m³/day) does a small-industry ETP in the Sirsiya corridor need to handle?
Neither source publishes a combined MLD figure, only that dozens of plants are discharging untreated. For a small-capital industry in a mixed corridor, per-plant ETPs in the 50–500 m³/day range and a CETP aggregating to roughly 0.1–5 MLD per site are typical (general industry range, not from the sources).
What treatment stages are being enforced by the Department of Industry?
The director general pointed to the 2080 BS study recommending ETPs that treat waste before discharge, which in practice means primary removal of solids and oils, biological treatment of organics, and disinfection before the river outfall. Ratopati
What is the compliance deadline, and what happens if it is missed?
Minister Gauri Kumari gave a one-week window starting 2 September, with a special ministry inspection team due on-site next week and "the process according to the rules" to follow for non-compliant plants. Ratopati
Can a group of small factories share one ETP instead of building individual units?
Yes. The Department of Industry's directive, citing the 2080 BS study, says small and large industries can establish ETPs either individually or collectively. Ratopati Lead time and cost depend on the chosen train, but a packaged integrated unit is the fastest route for sites under about 500 m³/day (general industry range, not from the sources).
