ATUN ROY CHOUDHURY, NEHA SINGH, P SANKAR GANESH, RESHAM BHALLA, K MAHALAKSHMI AND K SANDHYA
WASTEWATER TREATMENT and recovery are critical to address water scarcity and environmental pollution. Indian cities currently treat only 28 per cent of the 72,368 million litres of sewage they generate every day, as per the latest data released by the Central Pollution Control Board in December 2022.
While the country clearly needs to increase its treatment capacity, it also needs to upgrade the currently employed wastewater treatment processes for more efficient technologies. Most sewage treatment plants in the country rely on outdated technologies such as the activated sludge process, planted drying beds, soil biotechnology and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors that have a treatment efficiency of around 65 per cent and are cumbersome to set up and manage.
The story is slowly changing with several states in recent years opting for newer technologies that have treatment efficiency of around 80 to 90 per cent.
Almost all the sewage treatment plants set up in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after 2018 are based on two such technologies— sequencing batch reactors (sbrs) and moving bed biofilm reactors (mbbrs). Telangana's capital Hyderabad, in a first, recently upgraded an existing sewage treatment plant that releases its effluent into the Durgam Cheruvu Lake with sbr technology. Bihar has replaced most of its obsolete and inferior sewage treatment plants with sbrs. Similar upgrades are also reported in Maharashtra, Goa, Haryana, West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
Denne historien er fra November 16, 2023-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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Denne historien er fra November 16, 2023-utgaven av Down To Earth.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
A SPRIG TO CARE FOR
Punarnava, a perennial herb, is easy to grow and has huge health benefits
DIGGING A DISASTER
Soapstone mining near Dabti Vijaypur village has caused many residents to migrate.
REVIEW THE TREATMENT
Several faecal sludge treatment plants in Uttar Pradesh suffer from design flaws that make the treatment process both expensive and inefficient
MAKE STEEL SUSTAINABLE
As India works to double its GDP by 2030, its steel industry must balance growth with sustainability. By embracing policies like the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy 2019 and adopting green technologies, India is paving the way for a more sustainable future in steel production
Can ANRF pull off the impossible for India?
Anusandhan National Research Foundation is expected to reorient India's innovation goals but funding issues, old mindsets remain a drag
TROUBLED WOODS
Forests are a great bulwark against climate change. But this is fast changing. AKSHIT SANGOMLA travels through some of the pristine patches of the Western Ghats to explore how natural disturbances triggered by global warming now threaten the forest health
BLINDING GLOW
The science is clear: increased illumination has damaging consequences for the health of humans, animals and plants. It’s time governments introduced policies to protect the natural darkness and improved the quality of outdoor lighting.
GROUND REALITY
What happens when the soil loses the ability to grow healthy, high-yield crops on its own?
GM POLICY MUST BE FARMER CENTRIC
On July 23, the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to develop a national policy on genetically modified (GM) crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce through public consultation.
Vinchurni's Gandhi
A 96-year-old farmer transforms barren land into a thriving forest in drought-prone region of Satara
