Collaboration is the Need of the Hour: Swiss Ambassador
Vibrant exchange of ideas at multi-stakeholder workshop on Bengaluru’s potential to reuse reclaimed water at scale.
‘Collaborations like these to find solutions that can create impact on the ground are the need of the hour’, said Dr. Ralf Heckner, the Swiss Ambassador to India. He was addressing the multi-stakeholder workshop conducted by CSEI-ATREE on 28 March 2022 at the ATREE campus in Bengaluru to discuss the reuse of reclaimed water in Bengaluru.
The workshop was organised as part of the project titled, Prospects of innovative treated wastewater systems in apartments and gated-communities in Bengaluru. Stakeholder perspectives gathered here will inform this project being jointly developed by EAWAG (the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, specifically the departments of process engineering (ENG), environment social sciences (ESS) and sanitation (Sandec)) based in Zurich, Switzerland; the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and the Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation (CSEI).
A unique opportunity currently exists in apartments and gated communities in Bengaluru to implement reuse of reclaimed water at scale. Though over 3,800 on-site Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) have been installed in Bengaluru, many do not reach the mandated effluent quality standards and only a few incorporate on-site reuse of reclaimed water. There is potential to develop innovative ways of operation and maintenance along with governance models that would significantly bring down costs of these on-site STPs.
Success in this market segment could then spread to other segments within and beyond Bengaluru.
The larger goal of the project is to solve water problems in Bengaluru and other cities.
Read | Why wastewater holds the key to building climate-resilient cities
The workshop was attended by Karnataka Pollution Control Board’s Senior Environmental Officer, Syed Khaja; ECOTECH proprietor, Dr. Ananth Kodavasal; Managing Director of IAPMO, Nimish Shah; Joint Secretary of Bangalore Apartment Federation, Sathish Mallya; CREDAI’s national youth wing member and MD, Suhail Rehman; Founder of Green Lantern Technologies, Shravanth Donthi; Founder of FluxGen, Ganesh Shankar; as well as EAWAG’s Dr. Eberhard Morgenroth and Eva Reynaert, and ATREE’s Dr. Priyanka Jamwal.
The five-hour workshop was designed after we mapped key stakeholders involved at every stage of the decentralised STP process. The discussions were divided into three main sessions:
- Gaps and challenges in selection and maintenance of decentralised STPs
- Opportunities for reuse of reclaimed water in the market
- Gaps and challenges in quality assurance and monitoring
Insights and key takeaways
The insights from the workshop have been synthesised under different work packages (WP) to help inform the larger project.
WP 1: Technological system configurations at household, building and community scale
- Identify technology to retrofit STPs which could address the issue of poor quality reclaimed water.
- Water quality monitoring parameters based on reuse to ensure safety and reduce health risk.
- Real-time monitoring systems are currently too expensive. Many stakeholders also feel that STPs need to be fixed first before monitoring can be carried out. The ideal price point for real-time monitoring systems is approximately Rs. 70,000
WP 2: Factors explaining user acceptability and legitimacy at different implementation scales
- Awareness building among stakeholders across the spectrum is required.
- The difference in perception between blackwater and greywater needs to be better explored
- Negative perception about the safety of using reclaimed water for construction is adversely affecting reuse.
WP 3: Business models, standardisation, and market diffusion
Business case
- A policy that mandates 70% of water required for construction should be reclaimed water is on the anvil.
- Tanker water rates continue to rise and many apartments are now paying almost 30% of maintenance costs for freshwater
- Current demand for treated water is not being met due to lack of availability of good quality reclaimed water.
Standardisation
- Training programs to build capacity and skill to ensure proper operation and maintenance of STPs in apartments
- There is a need for standardisation of technology and quality; there should be a matrix of technology options for different scales and reuse purposes. STPs below 50 KLD do not make economic sense. The KSPCB has decided to revoke the mandate for systems which are less than 50 KLD as long as the apartment has connections to the underground drainage (UGD).
Enabling framework/market diffusion
- Tool that enables identification and mapping of sources with quality of reclaimed water required to understand availability and reuse.
- Transparency in water quality monitoring using digital dashboards and sensors.
- Sensitise end users about properly handling treated water to reduce health risk
WP 4: Support of greywater systems by the regulatory context
- There are mixed responses with respect to greywater systems. While some stakeholders believe that it would be best to separately treat blackwater and greywater, others firmly believe that it not only has little impact on the efficiency of treatment but does significantly increase costs.
- Inadequate incentives for residents/builders to operate and maintain their STPs. An enabling framework is the need of the hour.
Way forward
These insights validate the need for projects to boost reuse of reclaimed water along with more participatory sessions that increase reuse.
CSEI is officially collaborating with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to launch an early adopter campaign called ‘Grey to Green’, which focuses on channelising excess reclaimed water from apartments to public parks. We are working towards launching two more campaigns to use reclaimed water for various non-potable purposes. The ‘Grey to Blue’ campaign will enable aquifer recharge using reclaimed water. The ‘Grey to Yellow’ campaign aims to promote reuse of reclaimed water for building construction.
Edited by Anjana Balakrishnan
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