68.  AN STP IN THE TOWN OF KUPPAM ( Pop. 21,963 Census 2011)

This little story again illustrates and highlights the fact that I have been repeating again and again and again : The classical Extended Aeration Activated Sludge ( EAAS) system is still the best STP Technology for Micro , Mini and small STP’s in Res. Apt. complexes, Commercial Office complexes, Hospitals and colleges etc.

The small little town of Kuppam  best categorized as a Tier 4/ Tier 5 town, lies in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, roughly 130 Km ESE of Bangalore.  It can be reached  in about three hours by car on fairly well tended roads.  I had occasion today to visit this little town on an invitation from the prestigious PES  group of Institutions which runs a Medical college and a Hospital attached to the college in Kuppam.

My brief was to inspect, study and solve the riddle of excessive loss of water in their Water Treatment Plant ( WTP) in excess of 30 % when nearly 600 KLD of water extracted from their borewells was treated through a Pressure Sand Filter and a water softener. Sitting in Bangalore, my first thought was that the Ion Exchange resin in the softener may have outlived its usefulness and therefore was calling for frequent regeneration with common salt, followed by rinse operations which might explain the losses.  However, as is my wont, I reserved judgement until I did a Genba walk and an onsite physical inspection.

The puzzle was solved easily enough within minutes when the WTP operator at site confessed that he did a backwash of the sand filter once every three hours for 20 minutes on each occasion, which water was then wasted out on to the adjacent open Field. This practice was based on some Standard Operating Procedure ( SOP) possibly shared with him by the very same ignorant Plumbing Consultants whom I deride at the slightest chance that I get.. I showed the operator the quality and clarity of this “Backwash Waste”  and his folly in blindly following a fool’s advice  and gave him a fresh set of SOP based on scientific principles of pressure loss across the filter measured by two pressure gauges one fitted before and one after the filter.  The small town boy was beaming with pleasure, nodding his head at this simple, logical, common sense explanation when I left him to inspect the Sewage Treatment Plant on the other side of the campus.

Not one, but Two STP’s I was told were on campus, one rated at 200 KLD and the other at 400 KLD.  Having seen first hand sins of the past in the WTP, I trudged along towards the STP’s, expecting the worst.

LO and Behold ! Both STP’s were in perfect working condition, each receiving also the design quantity of wastewater and producing treated water of excellent quality like from any STP that we at Ecotech operate and maintain.  The secret of this Success was not far to seek.   Both STP’s were built on the Classical EAAS Technology, well designed and engineered. 

In a remote Small Little Town of Kuppam I saw a 100 % success rate of STPs. If only the self proclaimed  Hi tech City of Bangalore had this success rate, the lakes in Bangalore would not have to suffer.  For this to happen, one must cull out and permanently disable all commission seeking Plumbing consultants in Bangalore and the equally corrupt Architects who employ them

This story of Kuppam would be incomplete without a final piece of teaching and learning.

When I asked the Boy how many times he backwashed the Filter in the STP, he very respectfully replied that he did this procedure two times in a day.  Where was the need then to backwash the filter in a WTP every three hours I questioned him, when you are filtering clean water from a borewell and not STP water ? 

Good Environmental Engineering as I have often said is only 50 % knowledge, expertise and experience.  The other 50 % is the use of common sense to apply in practice what you have learnt.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                                    May 18, 2018

44. PARTNERS AND ASSOCIATES IN BUSINESS

 

When I quit Voltas International Limited in utter disgust in the year 1986 ( see A JOINT VENTURE COMPANY IN YEMEN ), I did quite a bit of spade work before I took the next big plunge in my career : I scouted around for suitable business opportunities in Bangalore and Madras, before zeroing in on Bangalore as the city of choice to set up business.  Also, since I was not certain how long it would take me to find my feet in the consultancy business, and indeed find a sufficient number of clients to keep the Home fires burning bright, I had a fall back strategy. Before quitting Bombay, I called upon friends and associates manufacturing pumps, agitators, and other odds and ends which find extensive use in Water and Wastewater treatment plants, and convinced them to give me sole dealership for selling these items in the Southern states of India.  And since by temperament I am a poor salesman (short tempered and ill mannered when having to deal with lesser mortals), I took on board a Partner to look after the Sales end of the business.

The Environmental Consultancy Business would be handled by me under the name and style of Ecotech Engineering : The Sales activity would have a separate and distinct identity, under the name of Dixie Enterprises.  My other partner would be solely responsible for day to day running of this Company.  An equitable scheme of sharing of profits from the two companies was mutually agreed.  It was also expressly agreed that the highest level of professional ethics and integrity would be maintained, and Dixie was not to have any business dealings with Ecotech’s clients : this to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

Now, a brief description of this partner of mine is in order.  An old colleague of mine from my previous company, Dilip was an extremely outgoing and gregarious fellow : always smiling, playing pranks, playing the fool,  an eminently friendly and likeable character. His joie de vivre was infectious : A few minutes of Dilip’s company will lift your spirit, setting it free and flying high.

Nothing happened either in the Consultancy front, nor in the sales front in the first six months of startup.  I kept my cool, comforting myself that these things take time, patience and perseverance. 

A break came providentially, when an old colleague from Bombay asked me to take care of the supervision and guidance during execution of a Sewage Treatment Plant for the Indian Telephone Industries which he had bagged.  Another colleague from Madras entrusted the task of commissioning a particularly difficult industrial wastewater treatment plant for the Mysore Acetate and Chemicals in Mandya.  An old college mate of mine facilitated my getting a consultancy assignment for a Wastewater treatment plant for NP Chewing gums ( see Treatment Plant Design by Academics ).  Now the ball was set well and truly rolling in the consultancy business.

Dilip, meanwhile found it an uphill task to sell pumps, agitators etc., and develop his end of the business.  Towards the end of the first year much to my chagrin, I found him canvassing sales from my clients in the consultancy business.  By means of a quick surgery, I closed down Dixie Enterprises, terminated our partnership and concentrated on developing Ecotech.  I lost a business partner, but retained a friend : Dilip is still the same old prankster I knew about 30 years ago.

I seem not to have learnt my lesson from this unhappy episode.

I got myself into a loose association with another erstwhile colleague of mine.  Things were going well for quite a number of years, since he also had another partner as a mentor, a much older, wiser, seasoned professional, a hands on engineer, a genius and a gentleman. His was the voice of reason, the sane counsel that reined in the over the top and get rich quick schemes of his younger acolyte : I was the technology and process consultant to them with my chemical and environmental engineering background : many a difficult industrial wastewater treatment plants were successfully designed and executed by this arrangement.

All was smooth sailing until another junior partner was roped into their company : Coming from a totally vacuous background, with scant appreciation of business and professional conduct, this charlatan brought in new work ethic and standards which possibly were music to the ears of his over ambitious boss : indeed, I suspect that could be the very reason for inducting him into the company in the first place.

Soon came a day when the Senior partner possibly could not countenance the shady goings on in the business and quit to protect his fair name : shortly thereafter, I too opted out when it became clear to me that professionalism and business integrity and ethics was of no account in this association, and my fair name could be dragged through the mud and mire they were sinking into.

I neither regret this decision nor rejoice in having made it : only a deep sense of sadness and sorrow lingers in having lost a friend bowing to Mammon.

                                        

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                                    December 05, 2011