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Table of Contents
- Next to Delhi’s foul Barapullah drain, under the flyover that bears the name of the nullah, a unique project is under way — one that has the potential to change how sewage is treated in India.
- LOTUS HR — Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse —
- is a joint effort by top Indian and Dutch institutions to test technologies that target, apart from conventional contaminant parameters like biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), pH value, etc., “contaminants of emerging concern” such as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), the effects of which were until recently only poorly understood
- The US Environment Protection Agency defines PPCPs as “any product used by individuals for personal health or cosmetic reasons or used by agribusiness to enhance growth or health of livestock”.
- Even a few nanogrammes of PPCPs per litre can disrupt the endocrine systems of animals and plants.
- It can also increase resistance of certain microbes, and could even be carcinogenic.
- “A UK study showed oestrogen in rivers that could have come from birth control pills, could have contributed to the feminisation of certain aquatic animals,” •India does not currently have protocols and treatment standards for emerging contaminants
- LOTUS HR is funded by the Department of Biotechnology and NWO, the Dutch science agency.
- The foundation stone for the project was laid a year ago
- goal of LOTUS project is to develop water treatment technologies for removal of pollutants, such as heavy metals, as well as new and emerging contaminants which usually go undetected in existing traditional sewage treatment plants.
The Barapullah experiment
- An on-site lab and pilot plant has been set up on a 200 sq m plot by the •The lab has six sets of biomechanical filters, with the water passing through agitated algae, a soil of sponge-like cubical blocks
- benefits emerging from the project have far reaching effects,– such as clean water for industrial, agricultural and community use
- recycling and reuse of the waste water for both recovery of waste and generation of gas/power that would benefit all sectors.
- potential of the project to produce clean water that can be reused.
- while simultaneously recovering nutrients and energy from the urban waste water, thus converting drains into profitable mines
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