WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND UTILISATION

59. WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND UTILISATION

    A CASE STUDY IN BANGALORE

The Hindu, the grand old Newspaper of India in its Sunday edition of October 04, 2015 reports of plans afoot  in the Government of Karnataka to formulate a policy on Wastewater treatment and utilization.  An initiative no doubt, but why a new policy I ask, when there is a comprehensive Environment Protection Act enacted by the Parliament of India, with requisite statutory and legal powers which only needs to be more strictly enforced to achieve these very objectives.

On June 19, 2015, The Karnataka Knowledge Commission  and the Karnataka urban infrastructure Development and Finance Commission ( KUIDFC) jointly organized a Workshop on Strategies for Wastewater Management to elicit views on the subject from various interested stakeholders.  I made a presentation at this workshop focusing on the status of the more than 2000 decentralised Sewage Treatment Plants ( STP’s) in the city of Bangalore, and the urgent imperative to get these defunct plants operational.  This would result not only in conservation of fresh water resources, but also make several of these communities with good STP’s self sufficient upto 60 % of their daily water needs.  And Oh! Of course, this will also incidentally reduce pollution in the environment, and less frothing and foaming in the lakes of Bangalore.

Pardon me for that last bit of sarcasm.  In my 30 years of being in the wastewater business in Bangalore,  I have found that the arithmetic of economic benefits and monetary gains far outweigh considerations of environmental responsibility even in the highly educated and enlightened strata of society.

AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF MY PRESENTATON IN THE WORKSHOP :

( Simple enough and eminently practicable as opposed to grandiose plans of the BWSSB to set up mega STP’s, which will most likely go the way of their predecessors)

     A.  GENERAL

• 3 Cardinal Rules for a good Wastewater Treatment Plant ( WWTP)

- Proper Design

- Proper Engineering

- Proper Operation & Maintenance

      B. STATUS OF STP’S IN BANGALORE

• Over 2000 Decentralised Private Sewage Treatment Plants ( STP) in Bangalore
• Over 300 MLD of sewage treated in these STP’s
• Over 80 % of Plants are defunct due to :
• Wrong Technology, Incorrect Design, Poor Engineering

     C. WHY THINGS GO WRONG WITH STP’ S IN BANGALORE ?

         ( AND MANY OTHER CITIES IN INDIA AS WELL )

• The Problem starts when Architects and Plumbing consultants with little or no experience start designing WWTP
• Problem gets compounded when the Technical Advisory Committee ( TAC) of the KSPCB which  lacks adequate competence to critically examine these proposals,  simply approves all and sundry Technology and Designs of WWTP

      D. BENEFITS  FROM REFURBISHING STP’S IN BANGALORE

• Over Rs. 1000 Crore of assets are lying idle in these defunct STP’s
• Only about Rs. 200-250 Crore will be required to refurbish these STP’s
• This refurbishment will result in enormous savings in Fresh water usage in Bangalore, estimated to be around150-180 MLD
• Apartment communities can become upto 60 % self sufficient in there requirement for water
• The balance 40 % of good quality STP treated water may be used to rejuvenate lakes in Bangalore
• Great beneficial impact on saving and preserving the environment

      E. WHAT SHOULD BE THE ROLE OF THE KSPCB ?

• I Recommend that the KSPCB refrain from scrutinizing and approving WWTP schemes
• KSPCB only to insist on ultimate performance of the WWTP to meet specific quality of treated water
• If WWTP is found to be inefficient, ineffective, defective, defunct, then KSPCB must mandatorily invoke provisions of Section 30 of the Water ( Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 to set right the WWTP through competent agencies and recover the monies from the original proposer and builder of the WWTP
• KSPCB to tighten its monitoring, inspection and enforcement obligations under various Acts and Rules

       F. HOW KUIDFC CAN HELP ?

• Because of mistakes committed in the past by the KSPCB  in approving unscientific schemes, several STP’s are defunct and are languishing
• KSPCB is not morally in a position to invoke provisions of Section 30  of the Water Act as above, since it is equally accountable and culpable for approving these schemes
• KUIDFC could step in, set up a special cell with a corpus of Rs. 250 crore to fund refurbishment and rehabilitation of the defunct STP’s in Bangalore at subsidized interest rates
• A vast majority of communities suffering due to defunct STP’s will readily welcome this initiative from the KUIDFC

      G. CONCLUSION

• Adoption of  simple, practical and economical strategies as above will result in enormous benefits to citizens of Bangalore
• Will Result in enormous reduction in dependence of scarce fresh water resource
• Will Result in protecting and preserving the Environment
• Will Help in rejuvenating lakes and protecting quality of water \in lakes in Bangalore 

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                        October 04, 2015

Director – Ecotech Engg. Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.

Bangalore 560 066

Mob : 98450-62033