IIT Kharagpur To Lead EU-Funded Project For Treatment, Reuse Of Wastewater

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IIT Kharagpur To Lead EU-Funded Project For Treatment, Reuse Of Wastewater

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur will steer a European Union-funded project to evolve technologies for reusing wastewater after treating it. IIT Kharagpur is the lead Indian partner of the multi-institutional, multi-crore Saraswati 2.0 project for treatment and reuse of water, a statement issued by the institute on Wednesday said.

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The project is being funded by the European Union and the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology, it said.

It aims to identify the best available and affordable technologies for wastewater treatment and to provide solutions to the challenges of water use in both rural and urban areas.

As part of the project, three water treatment plants will be set up at the IIT Kharagpur campus to treat wastewater and make them fit for use in irrigation.

"We will test different technologies at the three plants and evaluate their effectiveness," said Prof Makarand Madhao Ghangrekar of the institute's Aditya Choubey Center for Re-water Research.

The plants will be commissioned by January 2020, he said.

Seven such plants will be also set up in the other partner Indian institutes, which are IIT Madras, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Roorkee, NITIE Mumbai, MNIT Jaipur and TERI School of Advanced Studies.

IIT Kharagpur will manage the project along with its lead European partner, BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna), the statement said.

They will execute the project in collaboration with several European institutes.

Saraswati 2.0 builds on the Saraswati project of 2012-17, which was also jointly funded by the European Commission and Indian government's Department of Science and Technology.

The project has been selected under the EU-India joint call on research and innovation for water.

It will lead to transfer of European technologies to India, which could then be tested and customised according to Indian needs at an affordable cost, the statement said.

The target is to not only facilitate exchange of technologies but also use them for benefiting the Indian population once they are tried and tested, it said.

The project assumes significance as untreated domestic and municipal wastewater has become a major source of water and environmental pollution.

Treatment of wastewater not only prevents pollution of the water sources but also provides a valuable additional source of water supply, it said.

The statement said treated wastewater can be used for irrigation or for non-potable purposes such as flushing of toilets.

 

Source: KGP

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7 Comments

  1. What are the treatment technologies being used ?  What is the quality of effluent?

  2. No indication is given of standard will be achieved in terms of Value. Number of privet Schools and properties are already Reuse STP water after treatment to Plantation to reduce fresh water intake. In rainy season blended with for rainwater harvesting.

    mtplimited@gmail.com

  3. I don't like to be a damp squib but this project sounds like very old hat. The wastewater treatment process that works best in the Indian climate is activated sludge or a variation on that process. Trickling filters etc do not work well. Going beyond this into more complex methods simply misses the point - India is crying out for basic processes to treat its sewage and clean up its rivers - not more advanced technology.

    The reuse of treated wastewater for agriculture has been well understood for decades and the regulations for it are available on-line. It's reuse in the domestic area is more problematic but this is easily overcome if the treated effluent is discharged back to the environment and diluted around 10:1 whence it becomes part of the available resources . The UK has been doing this for well over a century.

    Reuse for industry involves advanced treatment, usually RO which produces a high quality process water but this is generally too expensive for domestic use (unless of course you live in the Gulf region where water is more expensive that oil).

  6. Need of the hour. Most important requirement for India. If done so, almost 20 big cities in India can feed large tracts of lands for irrigation through pipelines and that in turn will lead to a revolution in Indian Agriculture. As one of the participants and tasted success in WWT from industry, I would be happy to be part of this in any form. 

  7. 1. It is apt to have re use of effluents from wwtp, so that wwtp and its deliveries are operated , maintained and sustained . 

    2. This is seen as +ve aspect for QoL quality of Living is maintaibed too.

    With both social, economic and environmental returns, 

    3. Next aspect would be for associated communities to keep the plant well cleaned and presentable with greens and aesthetics.

    4. ROI can also be soght if effluent water and greens are productively commercialized Etc. 

    All remedied water and bio-sludges are used also.

    Lead Ngo organises 2 Nos. SHGs, 1 SHG manages to grow Elphnt Grss as fodder/ feed for cattle, poultry and others.

    2nd SHG utilises this fodder and grows all kitchen farm animals for profit.

    Here due compliance to public health standards are maintained on all farm produces Etc.

    Thse viable options are studird and replicated.

    Well wishes.

    Prof Ajit Seshadri. 

    Vels University. Chennai.

     

    1 Comment reply

    1. Fail safe wwtp are used viz. Dewats principle with double redundancy factors included.

      SDGs are also progressed and improved in local areas and communities.

      w wshs

      Ajit Seshadri .